


Wabi-Sabi

by elvengypsypheonix



Series: Yuánfèn [3]
Category: Reign (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Past Abuse, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-03-01 10:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 28,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18798205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elvengypsypheonix/pseuds/elvengypsypheonix
Summary: A series of one-shots showing snippets of Rosemary and Francis's life together as their family grows.





	1. January 15th, 2019

**Author's Note:**

> Wabi-Sabi is a Japanese concept. Much has been written on this, but in a sentence, it could be explained as a way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay.

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
**   
**Tuesday, January 15th, 2019  
** **Irvine, California  
** **4:26 p.m.  
**   
**:-:-:-:-:-:  
**   
**Kyla:** So, how did the call go with your mom last night?  
  
**Steph:** Did she lose her mind when you told her we were there for the weekend?  
  
**Rosemary:** Mom is disappointed that I can’t visit until Spring Break at the earliest. She’s coping, did you have to put on facebook that you came down for the weekend???  
  
**Sasha:** She has a point, life would be so much easier if Maryanne wasn't cranky at her today  
  
**Rosemary:** It's fine, stop worrying  
  
**Steph:** It's our job to worry. You've pulled off being the first of us to give the rest of the group a Godchild, of course, we're going to be worry warts  
  
**Kyla:** It was in the friendship contract from second grade remember?  
  
**Rosemary:** Of course, how can I forget the friendship contract? Speaking of the friendship contract, I'm enacting paragraph 4 subsection D  
  
**Steph** : :-p  
  
**Kyla** : Okay, topic change has been demanded… Steph, give us the latest details on the vow renewal and reception.  
  
Rosemary shook her head as she put her phone on silent, and put it away with plans to see what Stephanie wrote later. Pulling out the biography of Winston Churchill she'd been reading, she let herself get lost in ‘The Great Orator’, looking for a distraction from the wait.  
  
It had been a crazy three weeks since Christmas when she revealed her secret to Andrew and in turn, they opted to bite the bullet and just break it to everyone in one go. In the end, they had been smart about how to handle it, and she called her mom when they got back inside, wishing her a Merry Christmas and seeing how her evening had gone. She had slipped back into the living room while her mom had been rambling about the work party, waiting until Maryanne asked what the noise in the background was before she explained that there was something Andrew wanted to tell her.  
  
Andrew had just smirked, told his family to be quiet a moment, then took the phone and with a grin a mile wide explained how she had given him a bear for Christmas as the first gift for the nursery.  
  
No surprise really, their family went crazy, and they had thankfully managed to earn brownie points with her mom that she didn't find out _after_ Andrew's parents.  
  
Unfortunately, her mom had been quite annoyed that they hadn't taken her up on the suggestion of a trip up to visit with her to do some early shopping during her three day weekend, in less than a week, and that annoyance had tripled when she found out that the girls had met up and driven down in Sasha's baby Friday to spend the weekend camped out with her and Andrew for a combination Bachelorette party for Stephanie and celebration for her and Andrew's news.  
  
They'd eaten undoubtedly way too much ice cream, played games long into the night, and generally laughed themselves silly more than once with the teasing. It had been absolutely fantastic, and exactly what she had needed as the nerves had started up leading to today's appointment.  
  
She was far enough along when they figured out that she was pregnant, that they didn't have long to wait before finding out just what the little person in her womb was going to be, which somehow had her panicking more than she had expected.  
  
Andrew had been the one who voiced a theory as to what was going on in her head, as he held her in the quiet of the night.  
  
They'd only had time for a couple of talks between her revelation at Disney World of just how many miscarriages she had had in their first life; barely broaching the complicated emotions that went hand in hand with the memory of not one but five miscarriages, one pregnancy that carried to term though she never was able to truly know her only living child, and a second that resulted in the loss of two children born far enough along for her to have bonded with them only to bury them.  
  
That conversation had been more focused on the reasons she'd stayed silent when they were in France, sharing her thoughts from then, and his emotions now that he had learned everything he'd been unaware of in that life.  
  
After she broke, the news to him at Christmas, they'd been more focused on talks regarding things such as if their house would work for them, a baby, a puppy, and a cat very much set in his ways. They decided they'd stay with the condo for now, and turn the guest room into a nursery, and get a couch that doubled as a bed since completely getting rid of a place for guests was out of the question.  
  
Both Arianna and Donovan had already learned the joy of coming for visits back in August and made requests to visit when school and schedules allowed for it.  
  
Andrew had wondered if her nerves over the gender reveal was another throwback, she'd lost so many children in her first life most without the ability to truly bond with them. Knowing if it was a boy or girl, having the ability to make plans and daydream about a future with the child growing in her womb, it was logical that it would terrify her.  
  
He had even admitted it terrified him, getting too attached and losing him or her as they had with all her pregnancies in their first life.  
  
She had a feeling he might be right, had even brought it up to Allison in a way, the fear about the gender reveal. So, she and Allison were working on the idea of focusing on the good and trying to let the worry and fears fade away.  
  
It was vaguely working.  
  
Her mother's want to just jump into buying stuff and such was probably why she was she was getting more and more anti-answering her mom's texts or calls, finding listening to her mom be giddy, for some reason, only raised her anxieties more. Which was the real reason she opted not to go up during her three day weekend. And she had started the day with her mom up in arms and bemoaning how she never saw her only child, which was how she had been a nervous wreck since she started her work day.  
  
Sensing someone taking the seat next to her, she glanced to the side and smiled at the familiar form. “Made it?” she teased gently.  
  
“Made it,” Andrew breathed, still wearing his work clothes. He’d made arrangements to get off two and a half hours early, but they’d both known it was possible he wouldn’t make it in time with how traffic could be. “How goes the life of England’s most famous PM?” he nodded towards the book in her hands.  
  
“Slow going, too distracted,” she admitted with a sigh, closing the book and leaning her head on his shoulder. “The girls were going over Steph and Tom’s wedding plans when I left them in the group chat.”  
  
“That will be fun to catch up on later,” Andrew smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to hold her close. “It will be okay, Mary, my love,” he whispered to her hair.  
  
“I keep telling myself that,” she agreed, letting her eyes slip close and just focusing on her breathing and his familiar heartbeat, letting it lull her into a peaceful cocoon until the nurse called their last name.  
  
Minutes later, she was on the table, listening as Dr. Daniels explained what she’d be doing as she set up the ultrasound, and took the measurements and such she needed. Andrew was planted in the chair near her head, one hand firmly folded in her own, while the other was gently brushing her hair back from her temple.  
  
She started to zone out some until she heard Andrew's gasp as the sound of the heartbeat echoed in the otherwise quiet room, and felt his fingers brush away tears she hadn't even felt until he was removing them from her cheeks.  
  
Dr. Daniels just smiled and moved the wand a little bit more, before turning the screen so they could see what she saw.  
  
“Look at that,” Andrew breathed, eyes wide as they took in the sight of tiny limbs moving, their own little person already there, real and as whole as they should be at this stage.  
  
“Beautiful,” she whispered, eyes only straying from the image when she felt his lips at her hairline.  
  
“Do you want to know the gender?”  
  
“Yes,” they answered in sync, sharing a smile before looking back at the screen.  
  
“Everything I'm seeing is saying it's a girl,” she explained with a smile.  
  
“A girl,” she echoed quietly.  
  
“Our moms are going to spoil her rotten,” he chuckled.  
  
“We need to make decisions quickly if we want _any_ say in how the nursery is going to look,” she pointed out with a smile.  
  
Dr. Daniel just chuckled, letting them talk as she continued with what she needed to do, and they debated the pros and cons of traditional girly versus non-traditional or neutral.  
  
**:-:-:  
**   
Andrew had been more than happy to discuss the general concept of room themes as the doctor finished things off, more than a little happy to see the light back in Rosemary's eyes.  
  
He'd been worried since they were at Disney World, that afternoon at Epcot when she finally brought up children.  
  
It had never been something he had even thought to discuss, assumed children were an unspoken part of life. Once he had keyed in, he'd kicked himself, realizing instantly his mistake. They had always wanted children in their first life, and she had spoken of her potential issues with atypical issues stemming from her childhood in this life and how she may or may not handle certain interactions between kids and their dad that day on the beach, so he had just assumed she wanted kids.  
  
Learning just how many she had lost in their first life, on top of the historical facts of her son and lost daughters, he had realized in an instant that children weren't as easy an assumption as he'd written them off as.  
  
She wanted kids, they both did, and he knew that with no doubt in his mind or heart. Yet, with the memories of five miscarriages, two daughters lost to a stillbirth and a son she had to give up within his first year of life, he had realized children were going to be an emotional hot topic for his love, preparing himself for whatever might come.  
  
When she told him about her pregnancy, he'd been caught up in the overwhelming joy, sharing the news with their families that day, and just basking in all the happiness surrounding them between his sister's engagement and impending parenthood.  
  
It hasn't been until late into the night, after Rosemary was sound asleep after their personal celebration in the pool house, her body curled into him even in sleep, that his brain was calm enough to start really thinking.  
  
He'd been somewhat prepared, expecting it even, when the dreams began in the days that followed, holding her as she recovered from memories he couldn't imagine having, listening when she was up to recounting whatever pregnancy she remembered losing, or the memories of the last time she had seen her son in that life. He'd watched as she tried to simply be happy and excited, but also saw as her fears of something going wrong filled her waking hours more now that she had dared to admit what was going on.  
  
Even crossing out of the first trimester hadn't truly relieved her fears, and the endless calls from their mothers with thoughts and questions hadn't helped any over the last two weeks.  
  
He'd been able to talk to his mom, explain she was feeling overwhelmed and asked her to rein back a little, thankfully his mom had understood and instead was reaching out every day or so just to see how she was doing, turning more of her attention to planning Rachel's engagement party from what his sister texted, long complaints wondering how they survived their wedding plans that he would simply send a smilie to in response, shake his head, and try to advise as much as possible.  
  
Rachel's best bet was to sit down with Max and figure out what they wanted, then explain it to the parents, and their mom would have a direction to go in and be infinitely easier to deal with. No directions meant she was making suggestions of different ideas every couple of days and driving her eldest daughter up the walls.  
  
He was grateful his mother was understanding, and as much as Rachel might be annoyed, grateful she had turned her want to help towards his sister without a second thought. His attempt to ask Maryanne to give Rosemary a bit of space while she got used to things had only resulted in Maryanne trying to convince her to visit, which the denial of said visit had not gone over as well as he would have liked.  
  
Maryanne was back to bemoaning how she never got to see them, and talking about taking all of her vacation at once to come down for two weeks. Two weeks of his mother-in-law sounded like torture to him, two weeks straight of her attempting to take Rosemary shopping as often as possible to get baby stuff and maternity clothes he _knew_ without a shadow of a doubt would be torture for his wife.  
  
He actually half worried something like that would be the nudge needed to push his very hormonal love over the edge and into a psych ward. Not that he exactly saw Rosemary going down that path in her current state, but if she didn't get out of the mindset she was in, and her mother pushed her too hard, he could foresee that sort of worst-case scenario.  
  
It was why he had reached out to the one person he knew would completely understand his frustration with Maryanne Douglas. Tom had listened to the situation, and within three hours Sasha had texted to say she and the girls would be there the next night.  
  
It was nice having the option of calling in the cavalry.  
  
By the time the girls had left Sunday night, she'd been more relaxed, and all three had taken the time individually to tell him they expected weekly updates so if needed they could come down any weekend.  
  


Sasha hadn't even argued when he handed her the check to help with gas money next time.  
  
Thankfully.  
  
This week had seen her stress levels rising again though, and he had been half worried about her blood pressure when they were waiting for the appointment, internally thrilled that she was in the normal range when the nurse had checked it.  
  
He wondered if he was the only one to notice how zoned out she was as the appointment progressed, gently brushing her hair back in the way he knew she found comforting while Dr. Daniels explained measurements and all those needed details, fully aware how much Rosemary wasn't fully with them.  
  
It worried him, more than he knew how to express, to see her so zoned out. He wasn't sure if she was simply glazing over the measurements and all that entailed, but was present with them, or was actually lost in one of her slips between present and past.  
  
They'd become less frequent over the last year, but hadn't disappeared entirely, and he feared whatever dark place her mind might have taken her.  
  
He knew she was with them when he saw the tears slipping out of her eyes at the same time they started hearing their child's heartbeat, something he hadn't been able to not draw in a harsh intake of air over as he realized that was _their_ baby's heart he could hear filling the room. He wiped away her tears, thrilled to see she was fully back with them, noting though that she was speaking in French instead of English when she called their child beautiful. When they were asked about the gender, he didn't think, just replied.  
  
He had been relieved she had the same answer, then filled with joy at the idea of a daughter.  
  
He could already picture tea parties and stuffed animals, dance classes and horse riding, endless mommy-daughter moments he'd try to record, and teaching her how she should expect her to be treated when she started dating.  
  
He'd been even happier to see how she lit up, how the sight of their daughter sent some of the darkness fleeing from Rosemary's eyes. He had hoped most of it was the unknown that was causing the past to haunt her so, he just hoped if he was right, this might be enough to help her bounce back and find the joy in what was happening.  
  
They spent the rest of the time debating themes, knowing their mothers were about to go crazy with the idea of a granddaughter, and had pretty much decided on giving neutral a try, or non-traditional, both agreeing that an incredibly pink room would be terrifying.  
  
He had taken one look at her as they walked out of the doctor’s office, and made a quick decision, seeing how happy she was and listening as she rambled over the list of things they would need to start thinking about getting, baby registries and all those things he’d half been waiting for her to bring up since Christmas.  
  
God knew his mother and her mother had brought them up, even Rachel had, but not Rosemary.  
  
As she rambled, he drove towards the shopping center a mile from Yasu’s daycare center, not saying anything until he parked in front of Barnes and Noble and she looked over at him in confusion. “We are going inside, and you are going to pick out a journal you like to start keeping notes in, and anything else you feel like getting to help us keep track of everything we need to do,” he pointed at the store. “And we’ll grab Starbucks while we’re in there if you want. Then, we have Taco Rosa or Corner Bakery for dinner, unless you want to go to BJs though I’m figuring you’re still more on the Mexican or salad kick…” he paused, saw her slow smile and duck of her head, knowing she was still craving the two over everything else without her actually acknowledging it verbally. “And, we can even go to Yogurtland for dessert if you want, and pick up Yasu on the way home.”  
  
“Aren’t you exhausted?” she frowned, looking around the shopping center.  
  
Andrew reached out, gently catching her chin and turning her face to look at him, before leaning across the seat to gently press his lips to hers. “Relax,” he instructed as he pulled back, letting his hand slide to rest along her neck. “I’m fine, I’m on a pretty good high right now after hearing her heartbeat,” his other hand fell to rest lightly against her waist, eyes falling to stare at his hand before looking back up at her eyes, “And I’m pretty sure you’re feeling that same high… yes?”  
  
“Yeah…” she admitted slowly, eyes glancing back towards Barnes and Noble before returning to him. “Butterbeer steamer?” she asked with a bright smile.  
  
“Butterbeer steamer,” he agreed with a laugh, before turning to pull the keys out of the ignition.  
  
“And a chocolate chip cookie,” she added as she unbuckled and started to get out of the car.  
  
“And a cookie,” he agreed, climbing out of the Mustang.  
  
“And a spinach feta pretzel…”  
  
He paused at the front of the car, watching her as she came to join him, “Why do I think you didn’t really eat lunch?”  
  
Rosemary ducked her head again, “Too nervous,” she admitted with a sigh. “I’ll split the cookie with you…”  
  
Andrew just shook his head, reaching out to catch her around the waist and pull her close so he could kiss the top of her head. “I’ll split the cookie with you if you want, and we need to remember to start packing snacks in the car in case you’re too nervous before an appointment again.”  
  
“Okay,” she agreed slowly, “then I want my pretzel _and_ my cookie,” she spoke up as they walked towards the cafe entrance.  
  
“Pretzel, cookie, steamer, got it,” he chuckled, pressing his lips to her hairline again, then gently nudging her towards the main store while he went to order her snack and their drinks.  
  
Everything in hand, he headed towards the journals area first, seeing no sign of her as he drew close enough, so instead, he made his way to find where she might be hiding in the store. He wasn’t exactly sure where the section that dealt with pregnancy might be, but figured it was a good place to start.  
  
Somehow, he wasn’t surprised to find her seated on the floor, a small stack of books next to her as she looked over the selection and picked out another book that joined the stack. Glancing around, seeing how quiet this area of the store was, he simply sunk down on the floor next to her and held her drink out, smiling to himself when she took it without looking away from what she was doing.  
  
A quick scan of the stack showed she’d already hit up the journal section, and had one at the bottom. As he scanned what she had pulled out, he broke off a piece of the pretzel and passed it over, before turning his gaze to the shelves to see if anything caught his attention.  
  
Thirty minutes later, and one pretzel and a cookie that he ended up having half of, after all, they were finally emerging from the store to drive over to the Bakery.  
  
After ordering their food and drinks, they settled down into a booth, sharing one side which was truthfully his favorite thing about eating out.  
  
While they waited for food, Rosemary curled into his side, starting on her lists, and even though he’d had three younger siblings, Andrew realized pretty quickly how little he actually had realized was needed when preparing for a baby.  
  
“We need a crib and a bassinet? Why both?” he asked as he stared down at her list.  
  
“Bassinet for when she’s really small, she can sleep in our room. We move her up to a crib when she’s older. And they even have cribs that transition to toddler beds and beds for when she’s older. We should look into options…”  
  
“Multi-purpose is good,” Andrew nodded. “So… in all your rambles earlier, you stayed away from Disney. I would have thought you’d be suggesting Disney themes if we’re being honest.”  
  
Rosemary shrugged slightly, closing the notebook as an employee approached with their food. “I wasn’t sure if you were up to a completely Disney room for the nursery, like what characters would we probably use…” she trailed off, picking up her fork to start on her Caesar salad.  
  
“Well, I think I’m going to request we don’t do a Minnie Mouse themed room, if we’re trying to avoid the super girly room. Princesses may or may not be questionable if the things I saw in the stores at the Parks are any indication.”  
  
“No,” she shook her head quickly. “No, Princesses is too easy to go pink. And, we were thinking more gender neutral, so if we did Disney I’d probably say let's see what animal movie options exist.”  
  
“Like Lion King?” he raised an eyebrow at her, “That feels more little boy than gender neutral…”  
  
“I agree,” she frowned in the way that always made her nose crinkle up, and he suppressed the smile that always tried to curl his lips when her nose did that. The look she shot him told him she caught it, and he simply raised his free shoulder in a shrug. After a roll of her eyes, and a bite of her sandwich, she raised up her hand and began to count on her fingers. “There’s the Pooh Corner gang that could be gender neutral possibly, Aristocats is more feminine but still potentially gender neutral, A Bug’s Life, Brother Bear could be gender neutral potentially… The Fab Five, well six if you count Daisy, could be gender neutral easy enough.”  
  
“In other words, we should look into what’s available?” he asked with a smile.  
  
“Probably,” she agreed after a moment. “Sucks that Babies ‘R’ Us and Toys ‘R’ Us don’t exist anymore.”  
  
“Yes, we all miss Geoffrey the Giraffe,” he nodded. “Where should we look since Geoffrey is no more?”  
  
“Well, the emailed suggestions that came from Rachel, trying to save us from the moms, included Target, Amazon funny enough, which somehow feels like cheating and I don’t know why,” she shrugged, but the look of confusion on her face was endearing. “Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Kohls again, Walmart… We have lots of options it seems,” she looked up at him and shrugged.  
  
“Well, we can poke into Bed, Bath and Beyond and pick up any books they have about their registry, and Target,” he pointed out, thinking over what was nearby. “And we can check online for Kohls and Walmart when we get home if you want.”  
  
“Sounds good,” Rosemary nodded after a moment. “This is really happening, isn’t it?” she asked after a moment, looking up at him, the amazement on her face making his heartache.  
  
“This is really happening,” he agreed with a soft smile, leaning down to press his lips against her forehead. “And we’re going to get through every moment together, enjoy them to the best of our abilities, and try not to go insane along the way.”  
  
“Sounds like a plan,” she smiled up at him.


	2. January 19th, 2019

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, accidentally forgot to update the date for chapter posting last night, so it didn't show up initially on the site for this weekend at first. All fixed now!

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
**   
**Saturday, January 19th, 2019  
** **Rolling Hills, California  
** **4:26 p.m.  
**   
**:-:-:-:-:-:  
**   
The weekend found them in Rolling Hills, which was one of the main reasons she had put her mother off about a visit. Andrew hadn’t been aware of what his family was planning for Saturday, but Rosemary had been fully in on the plotting for his twenty-fourth birthday.  
  
She’d been ready the night before when he arrived, Smokey on his leash, Yasu on his, pet supplies packed and ready to go along with their overnight bags. Andrew had walked in, taken one look at everything she had gathered, then sighed and shook his head, asking where they were going with a smile.  
  
He had headed upstairs to take a quick shower and get changed, while she took Yasu for a walk and called Claudia to confirm things were a go and she’d text when they were on the road. Andrew was loading the trunk with their overnight bags and the box that had arrived from London the day before. She just shook her head, heading back into the house to get one last restroom break herself. As she walked past the car, she saw he had set up the backseat as well, Smokey’s cat carrier was on the floorboards behind her seat, door open for Smokey to go in and out since they had discovered her cat handled car trips infinitely better with the ability to just curl up on the passenger seat rather than being confined. The bag with Smokey and Yasu’s travel supplies was sitting on the floorboards behind Andrew’s seat, while the blanket he had been training Yasu to lay on, was on the seat above it.  
  
After her last trip to deal with her overactive bladder thanks to her ever-changing body, she grabbed Smokey on her way out to the car, finding Andrew had already gotten Yasu settled and buckled in with his harness and safety belt; his stuffed log with its chipmunks already being chewed on as Andrew waited between the doors on her side of the car. He smiled, stole a quick kiss then the cat before opening the door for her. He had buckled Smokey’s leash in place and finally, they had been on the road for Rolling Hills, the entire time she refusing to give him any hints about plans.  
  
Their arrival had been typical.  
  
Arianna and Donovan met them to unload Smokey and supplies, Andrew taking Yasu for a walk while she had gone inside to see Claudia and James.  
  
The night before had been spent with Monopoly and Thai food, staying up until well past midnight before retiring to the pool house. She'd been the first one awake that morning and made her way up to the main house, not surprised to find Claudia nursing a cup of tea and reading the morning paper.  
  
Making her own cup of tea, she joined her mother-in-law at the table, and waited, knowing it wouldn’t be long before curiosity would demand satisfaction.  
  
It was fifteen minutes before Claudia finally huffed, put her paper aside, and crossed her arms over her chest, just staring at Rosemary as she in turn simply sipped her tea, hiding her smile. “Oh for mercy’s sake, you’re enjoying this aren’t you?” she accused with a roll of her eyes. “I saw the box Andrew put in the living room,” she waved a hand in that direction. “What the devil is in it?”  
  
Rosemary just smiled as she set her cup down, “I thought for sure you’d have broken into it, or Ari, one of the two of you.”  
  
“Evil child,” Claudia shook her head, and Rosemary hid the smile as Claudia’s native accent slipped out more on the phrase. “Well then, what is it? Andrew wouldn’t have been bringing it in if it was a gift for him, and I can’t understand why you’d be bringing a gift for anyone but my son.”  
  
“Actually, it was a gift from my cousin in London,” she began as she rose, grabbing her tea and heading towards the living room, not surprised to hear Claudia falling into step behind her. “It arrived Thursday, along with a timed Skype chat where she explained that she stumbled on it all while hunting for things of her own, and just couldn’t resist picking it up, just in case.”  
  
“Rose Lynn is incredibly confusing if she was that vague to you,” Claudia pointed out as she sat on the couch near where Andrew had tucked the box away.  
  
“Oh, she was, she is, and she loves it,” she laughed, setting her tea down on a coaster, before pulling the flaps apart. “She helped solve a dilemma that Andrew and I were having though,” she admitted, pulling out the item on top and handing it to Claudia.  
  
“Oh, that’s just darling,” Claudia breathed as she stared at the pillow. “Where did she manage to find a Bambi pillow like this?”  
  
“Somewhere in London, I went looking online and saw where Disney released a themed set that was Bambi, but I could only find one that had stars on it. This one doesn't have any stars,” she explained as she pulled out the cream quilted comforter that had Bambi and Thumper standing at the bottom, standing with black and white daisies at their feet, Thumper looking up at Bambi while Bambi looked over his shoulder at the butterfly on his tail.  
  
There was a white fitted sheet and a crib sheet that had cream panels separated by strips of tan fabric, each with a motif that had either Bambi or Thumper or the birds. A matching laundry hamper had a small Bambi standing above a daisy, looking down towards the corner of the basket while the crib bumper was in tan and cream like the skirt, with a small blue bird on the tan sections and Bambi looking down at Thumper again with the daisies. A quilted diaper bag that could tie on the end of the crib had Thumper by himself in the bottom corner while the dresser cover had Bambi standing alone. Two sets of white sheers with tan valances, where one panel had Thumper amidst daisies, completed the collection, with tan tie-backs that had a bluebird on each.  
  
“These are just precious,” Claudia spoke after they had brought everything out for her to see. “And very gender neutral, so they could be reused if you guys have another down the road and don’t want to buy a second set if it’s a boy…”  
  
“Already planning for your second grandchild?” Rosemary asked with a laugh.  
  
“Well, Andrew and Rachel weren’t _that_ far apart…” she shrugged, “Johnson men are prolific.”  
  
“Oh God,” she buried her head in the tan pillow she’d handed Claudia in the beginning, and Bambi’s image upon it.  
  
“Do I want to understand what has my wife already hiding in bedding?” Andrew’s voice was filled with amusement. “Can we get the baby stuff off the floor, I fear Yasu and it becoming friends…”  
  
“Sure,” Claudia agreed with an easy smile as she came up for air from the pillow and started passing the stuff around her up to Claudia and the couch.  
  
As soon as the floor was free of items, Yasu was bounding over with all the energy of a three-month-old husky, happily handing her one of his chipmunks and going for his usual pastime of licking every available spot on her body until Andrew rescued her long enough she could throw the chipmunk and Yasu raced after it.  
  
Puppy content for the moment to play with his would be escape artist, Andrew helped her up and towards the love seat, letting her curl into his side before they both noticed Claudia staring at them.  
  
“What?” Andrew asked after a moment.  
  
“So, are we doing a Bambi theme at your house?” she waved a hand towards the hamper that she had carefully filled with all the items they had unpacked earlier.  
  
“That seems to be the way we were thinking of going when we saw what Rose sent,” Andrew shrugged slightly. “We’ve been hunting around online, found a lot of stuff on Etsy that we liked, so we’re going to create an email with links to send out to everyone.”  
  
“How are you going to be surprised by what you have and don’t have if you do it that way?” Claudia looked between them skeptically.  
  
“Well, we were thinking of getting someone to be the designated keeper. And before you offer, just to avoid Maryanne having a conniption, we talked to Rachel, she’s supposed to give us an answer this weekend,” she explained quickly.  
  
Claudia nodded, “Well, I can understand that one. I insist that you let me work with your mom to plan the baby shower though, it’s about time she and I found something to bond over.”  
  
Rosemary exchanged a long look with Andrew, before they looked back at Claudia, “May you not go insane,” she offered with a small smile.  
  
“Hear, hear,” Rachel’s voice drew their attention to the entryway, leading to a round of hugs and Yasu going from person to person eagerly seeking attention until Andrew finally had to take him outside and give him a walk and do a training lesson to try to get some of his energy under control.  
  
“So this is the set?” Rachel asked as she peeked into the hamper, pulling out the comforter. “Oh, this is just darling, Max, look at this.”  
  
“Cute,” Max nodded as he sat down on the other love seat. “Rachel said you needed help with a homemade registry…”  
  
“Yeah,” she agreed, looking between the two. “Why do I think you are up to something?”  
  
“Because you're used to me,” Rachel shrugged as she moved to sit down with her love. “Send us links, Max wants to practice his coding so we're going to make you a website with links to either your registries or wherever it could be purchased and have a link to email me if they are buying something that isn't connected to an official registry.”  
  
“Which means you have to do registries,” Claudia chuckled.  
  
“Actually, we started one for Bed, Bath, and Beyond after this arrived,” Rosemary admitted, pulling out her phone to pull up the site. “We had seen a furniture set when we peeked at them after my appointment this week and were waiting to see what we found for themes before making final decision. When I saw the Bambi stuff, Andrew knew we wouldn't be debating anything else,” she smiled sheepishly as she passed her phone over to her mother-in-law. “We thought the animals were just adorable,” she explained with a small shrug.  
  
“It is,” Claudia agreed, passing the phone to Max. “Is it a full set?”  
  
“Four in one-bed frame, a dresser, chifferobe, and a box for atop the dresser to make it into a changing table. We figured bare minimum it should work until she's in elementary school and more aware of her own likes and dislikes to give opinions for her room.”  
  
“Nice,” Rachel nodded, looking up from the phone before passing it back to her. “So, when we aren't celebrating my brother's birthday today, we can go over stuff some.”  
  
“Maybe some wedding talk, too,” Claudia asked with a smile.  
  
Rachel rolled her eyes, “We have plenty of time to work on wedding stuff, my new niece has a shorter time table than our wedding.”  
  
“Spoilsport,” Claudia stuck her tongue out at her daughter, before picking up her tea.  
  
“You love me anyway,” Rachel grinned.  
  
“Yeah, yeah,” Claudia groused, though the smile on her face belied her tone.  
  
“So, what is the plan for today?” Max asked with a smile.  
  
“Monopoly, Mad Quao, whatever other game Andrew wants to play…” she explained with a smile.  
  
“Ari made him a cake and it's hidden away in the freezer…”  
  
“Ari made Baked Alaska?” Rachel sat up, manic grin in place, at her mother's words.  
  
“Yes, I did,” Arianna spoke as she joined them, still in her robe and pajamas. “I'm here for Rach, Donnie and Dad are in the kitchen starting breakfast.”  
  
“Well, duty calls,” Rachel declared as she rose and followed Arianna to the kitchen.  
  
“Decorations?” she looked over at Claudia with a grin.  
  
“Decorations,” Claudia agreed, rubbing her hands together with the grin Rosemary had long learned meant insanity would ensue, and undoubtedly endless fun.


	3. April 20th, 2019

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
****Saturday, April 20th, 2019  
****Irvine, California  
****6:18 p.m.  
  
****:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
**“Have you seen my earrings?” Rosemary called as soon as she heard Yasu barking as Andrew and Yasu entered the house, while she hunted through her jewelry box for the fourth time since they left for the quick walk.  
  
“Which ones are you looking for?” he called back before his volume dropped to a murmur she couldn't quite decipher, as he talked to Yasu.  
  
“The cameos I got from Aunt Joan for my birthday,” she answered, shifting through the box a fifth time.  
  
“Ring dish, bathroom.”  
  
Rosemary closed her eyes and placed her hands flat on the dresser surface with a small huff.  
  
She hated pregnancy brain.  
  
“Thank you,” she called back, making her way into their bathroom to find them sitting precisely where he had said, his ‘anytime’ just making her shake her head.  
  
She might have managed to avoid the typical morning sickness, and had a fairly healthy pregnancy so far, all of which she was incredibly grateful for, but she could have done without her memory going to Swiss cheese.  
  
And she still had most of a trimester to go.  
  
“Hey,” Andrew spoke softly, pulling her attention to his appearance in the doorway. “Anything I can do?” he asked as he crossed to stand behind her, hands resting on her lower back and kneading gently.  
  
“That, for like the next ten weeks?” she offered with a smile, grateful for his skill with finding her sore muscles and getting them to release the knots they gained from her ever-expanding uterus.  
  
“Deal, but how about with now so we don't end up late to dinner with your mother?” he countered with a small grin, before dropping a kiss to her still bare shoulder. He didn't raise his head, only his gaze to find their reflection in the mirror, eyebrow rising.  
  
She rolled her eyes, before raising her hand to wave towards their closet, “The blue dress I got when the girls visited for maternity shopping, it's on back of the door, and yes, I know I'm ridiculously slow.”  
  
“Stop that,” he chastised, swatting her lightly on her butt as he moved to go grab her dress.  
  
Rosemary just shook her head and chuckled lightly, returning her attention to finishing her jewelry, which she had started on when he left with Yasu for the standard ten-minute restroom run before car trips.  
  
When Andrew returned with her dress, she was mercifully done with everything else and accepted his help getting it on with a smile and a quick press of her lips to his, before she grabbed her lip gloss and they headed out to the car.  
  
Yasu happily jumped in the back and settled down on his blanket behind Andrew, which still amazed her that even at only five months, Andrew and the training classes had successfully trained him that much, while she got herself settled in the passenger seat and started setting up the iPod for music.  
  
Yasu had made a buddy at the park, and they had made at least acquaintance status with Fisher's human, so they would watch Fisher once in a while and he would watch Yasu so they didn't have to worry while her mother came for long dinners.  
  
Knowing Maryanne had been having serious identity issues and constantly comparing herself to her in-laws before the news of the baby became known, they had been prepared for anything. In many ways, both were thankful her mother had only taken to coming down for the weekend every month to spend Saturday hanging out with a long dinner that evening.  
  
Since then, her mother had been making an effort to visit, once every four to six weeks being the plan, so she could spend time with them and bring the latest items she had gathered for her first grandchild.  
  
Rosemary was thankful Andrew was coping as well as he was with the influx of items coming from her mother, who seemingly didn’t acknowledge the fact that there was more family in their lives than her alone. Currently, there was a half debate going on as to what crib they would be getting, as Maryanne was convinced she had found the perfect set at Target, while Andrew was simply rolling his eyes, and muttering whenever her mother wasn’t in earshot about accepting they had made some decisions of their own.  
  
Thankfully, her mother had stuck with clothes, ranging from newborn to 4T; whatever she saw that she thought was too cute. Rosemary thanked the universe daily that her mother actually had good taste when it came to clothes for little girls. It was her saving grace when they had these weekends, for all that she loved her mother, and she did, she was rarely up to the million questions and suggestions that her mother had for how they should do things with their child.  
  
“So, what do you think your mom’s topic of discussion will be tonight?” Andrew asked as they drove towards Fisher’s house.  
  
She glanced over at him and shook her head as her musical list switched over to a new song. “I think I saw a list of name suggestions in her planner this morning, but, since her birthday was a few days ago and we have her birthday gift hiding in the trunk, I’m pretty sure we can distract her this time.”  
  
“Thank God,” he sighed heavily. “Mary, my love, I’m pretty sure I will _have_ to say something if she tries to tell us what we should name _our_ daughter.”  
  
“I know,” she sighed heavily. “We probably _should_ make a decision on what we are going to name her,” she pointed out, rubbing back against the foot trying to press through her skin.  
  
“Well, we could always go through the baby name book again,” he pointed out with a smirk.  
  
“Oh God,” Rosemary groaned, sending him a look of pure annoyance.  
  
They’d been through the book dozens of times a week since her sonogram told them they were expecting a girl. Hours spent laughing over crazy suggestions, shudders over the ones they each thought were truly outrageous, long hours of laughter and munchies and enjoying the process as much as they could.  
  
Unfortunately, settling on a name hadn’t exactly been part of their endless hours going through the book. Nothing jumped out at either of them, and at this point, she half expected them to be making their decision after the little one who liked to play soccer in her womb had decided to grace them with her presence.  
  
“We’ll figure something out,” Andrew sent her a warm smile. “After all, we still have time,” he reached out to catch her hand and give it a squeeze.  
  
“Maybe we can distract her with talk of the baby shower,” she suggested with a smile.  
  
“There’s always hope,” Andrew agreed as he pulled over in front of Fisher’s house.  
  
“There’s always hope,” she agreed with a smile, before turning to reach back and scratch at Yasu’s ears as Andrew climbed out, “Have fun with Fisher, silly boy,” she crooned to the puppy who was eagerly curling his head into her hand, while his eyes watched Andrew intently.  
  
Hearing her phone ping as Andrew was releasing Yasu from the car, she pulled it out and released a small sigh as she saw her mother’s name. Opening it up, she gave it a quick read and texted back their eta, before pulling up the group chat with the girls and answering the text Kyla had sent two days earlier and she’d been debating over.  
  
**Rosemary:** If you guys still want to come down to work on the nursery, PLEASE.  
  
It only took about twenty seconds for her phone to ping, and she simply smiled as she read her friend’s response.  
  
**Kyla:** Be there with bells on, I’ll make plans with the girls and let you know when to expect us. Good luck with your mother tonight. Tell her I said happy b-day.  
  
**Rosemary:** Thanks. Will do.  
  
She slipped her phone back into her pocket as Andrew returned, sending him a small smile. He simply smiled back, and started the car, taking them on their way to the restaurant her mother was waiting at.


	4. May 27th, 2019

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
**   
**Saturday, May 27th, 2019  
** **Rolling Hills, California  
** **4:27 p.m.  
**   
**:-:-:-:-:-:  
**   
Time had continued on as time always did, and before Rosemary or Andrew were quite ready, May was almost over and they had just five weeks left until her due date.  
  
Spring had passed with plenty to keep them active: between birthdays, baby preparations, Yasu’s continued training, and work, they were often endlessly busy.  
  
February had seen Rosemary’s twenty-fourth birthday, celebrated with a group trip to Disneyland for the entire Johnson family, then a gathering of the girls to celebrate Stephanie’s twenty-fourth birthday at the end of the month, ending the twenty days that Rosemary was older than Stephanie.  
  
March had seen Claudia’s birthday, which had been a quiet affair at Claudia’s decision, so they had only sent along gifts and well wishes as James and Claudia had a quiet night away from home.  
  
April had been the busiest month in regards to preparations. After Maryanne’s birthday visit, Kyla had come down for a long weekend with Jesse, the two finally revealing their relationship to Rosemary and Andrew. After Andrew and Jesse had painted the room a simple eggshell white on Friday, while Kyla and Rosemary had spent the evening at the movies, Kyla spent Saturday sketching on the walls, and Sunday painting in the mural she had dreamed up.  
  
On the long wall opposite the door, there were two trees, one on each side, with golden leaves. The trees stood atop green hills, with a long branch reaching towards the other one, creating an arch. Bluebirds flew among the branches, with a few butterflies here and there, even a dragonfly and a squirrel looking down from one of the branches.  
  
Spring Break saw the youngest Johnson children giving their parents a mini vacation, as Donnie had gone to camp, while Arianna came to Irvine to stay with them, opting not to participate in a camp this year. Instead, as Andrew went to work each day, leaving the two of them home alone, she helped with nursery preparations. Between the two of them, and Andrew’s help in the evening, they’d gotten the room arranged with all the furniture that had arrived by that point.  
  
They placed the crib beneath the painted archway, the gray of the wood standing out against the white walls. The dresser, in turn, was placed under the windows, and the rocking chair that had been a gift from Maryanne sat in the corner between the dresser and crib; while on the dresser, they created a changing station with the diaper genie tucked to the side farthest away from the crib.  
  
The chifferobe from the furniture set was tucked on the wall opposite the crib next to the door, atop it sat bookends that had arrived from Andrew’s great-aunt in New Orleans, antique matching red bookends that held a small figurine of Bambi on each, from when the movie was new. Near them was a Thumper figurine from the same time period. Next to those knick-knacks, they had placed the frame from the Bambi themed photo set that they had found online, the one for an ultrasound which had a black and white image of Bambi curled up as a newborn and simply stated ‘Waiting for our little one’.  
  
They had plans to replace it with the ‘Welcome to the world little one’ frame that had space for five pictures after she was _in_ their world.  
  
They had found a green rug for the center of the room, adding a splash of color to the mostly neutral room, and a stool designed to look like a tree stump, with a mushroom on one side, that doubled as a hideaway spot, they stashed in the corner between the chifferobe and diaper genie.  
  
They’d reworked the closet, removing the standard door and replacing it with a divided door. Inside, they installed two sets of identical organizers with two levels for hanging up clothes on either side of a center section of shelves. The hamper that matched the bedding set from Rose Lynn was tucked just on the other side of the door, easy access if the top half of the divided door was open, but not taking up space in the rest of the main room. The diaper stacker was hanging on the wall between the crib and the rocker, high enough that it wouldn’t be a problem for anyone sitting down, though instead of storing diapers in it they had decided to store the extra bedding. The final touches they had added that week were the circular wall lamp that had come with the furniture set, which was hung on the wall between the closet and door to the hall, across from the window; and adding a screen door to the door to the hall so they could keep the inner door open and be able to see into the room at a glance once it was put to proper use.  
  
In the end, they had decided to just have the futon downstairs as the guest bed, realizing that they didn’t want to risk the baby keeping their guest up or vice versa, and they found a new coffee table that had an open space beneath where they stored the spare bedding for the futon in a couple of collapsible boxes, out of sight but easy to access whenever someone came by.  
  
It had been a huge relief, for both of them, when the nursery was complete. One less thing on the long list that Rosemary had gathered of things to do before the end of July was upon them.  
  
They’d made it through Lamaze classes, and in a lot of ways, they felt as ready for things as they could, at least in terms of feeling like they were ready for the actual physical aspect of what was coming. Well, at least the unknown amount of time that Rosemary would spend in labor trying to bring their daughter into the world. Their nerves were another matter entirely, as the days and weeks slipped away, they were filled with a mixture of excitement and fear, excitement far outweighing the fear… most of the time.  
  
May had seen preparations for the end of the school year for Rosemary, and her attention had been caught up in her work, so it hadn’t crossed her mind to wonder about a baby shower, until the invitation arrived in the mail.  
  
It had flowers across the top, trailing down, and in the bottom corner, with Bambi looking up at the flowers like he did a butterfly in the movie… and she’d just stood there mildly dumbfounded.  
  
She knew the image, it was the stationary they’d found online and been debating getting to announce the birth.  
  
What she hadn’t been expecting, was to see in writing “Oh Deer! Our Sweet Little Girl is almost here!” Scanning the rest, she’d somehow not been surprised to see her in-laws address on the invitation along with a date and time.  
  
She had just shaken her head and sent a picture via text to Andrew with a series of question marks, waiting to see if he admitted to knowing about this.  
  
She’d only prayed her mother had been involved in some facet.  
  
Thankfully, when she reached out to Claudia, she’d learned that her mother had been involved, bless Claudia’s patience for being able to handle Maryanne.  
  
Bright and early Saturday morning, they’d loaded the animals into the back seat, their belongings into the trunk, and drove to Rolling Hills with country music playing. Arianna and Donovan meeting them at the car with big grins.  
  
Rosemary adored the apparent tradition that had been formed, of her youngest sister-in-law and only brother-in-law meeting them every time they arrived. By the time hugs were exchanged, Max, Tom, and Jesse had joined them and confiscated the keys, shooing the two of them towards the house with Arianna, so the quartet could get their luggage and Smokey to the pool house while Yasu went with them inside the main house.  
  
Inside the house, they found her girls waiting with grins, and they’d grabbed the two of them while Arianna took Yasu out for a walk, leading them through the house to the pool area which had been completely transformed.  
  
Bambi was everywhere! And yet it wasn’t completely overwhelming as one might fear.  
  
There was a table off to one side, where they had a couple of large pieces of wood. One had a copy of the Little Golden Book version of Bambi, with some flowers behind it. In front of it was a stack of cards that said “Wishes”, with a collection of pens for everyone to fill out their own answers guessing all the unknown information of their baby: what her name would be and all the statistics that would come when she finally arrived. The second large circle was in place of a guest book, with fine-point pens to have everyone sign the circle of wood, something more permanent than paper.  
  
Near the ‘guest book’, was a jar of clothespins, with a sign explaining the “don’t say ‘baby’ game” they were intended for, Stephanie taking no time to hand them both a clothespin.  
  
Another table held wooden bowls that held a variety of fresh and dried fruits, cut fresh vegetables, nuts and granola, and pretzels and popcorn. In amongst the food were plants with mushroom figurines spread around it, and a yard decoration that was Bambi as a fawn, staring out over the food on display.  
  
There was even a gopher randomly sitting among the foliage, next to a mushroom, which brought a chuckle to Andrew.  
  
A third table had sandwiches under glass domes, atop stands made to look like trees, with a stuffed Bambi sitting below. They’d obviously gotten Andrew’s input, as it was all flavors Rosemary had been eating a lot of lately. She’d just sent a look at him, seen his grin, and rolled her eyes before moving on to continue taking in it all.  
  
A fourth table was the dessert table, again with natural looking displays. In the place of honor, on the tallest piece of wood that looked more like a stump, was a two-layer cake, the top slightly smaller than the bottom. Around the bottom was a latticework of yellow diamonds, with a placard that declared ‘It’s A Girl’, tiny flowers and a blue ribbon framing the placard. The smaller layer above was pale pink, with a sugar Bambi done in the style of the original books standing in a field of grass and flowers against the side, more flowers spread around the base of the smaller layer with tiny butterflies dancing at the top of the cake.  
  
Arianna had shyly admitted it had been her idea. Claudia telling them later that Ari had even gone to classes to learn to make the cake herself, only getting the sugar Bambi, butterflies, and letters off the internet when she decided to replicate one she had seen online.  
  
Two other wood circles held a collection of cookies and brownies, while nearby they had little rabbit shaped topiaries and two raised cake plates that held a pile of flowers and moss, with a tiny pinata of Thumper on one, and Flower on the other.  
  
A final table held what looked like a cake, until closer inspection revealed it was one of those diaper cakes completely Bambi themed. Rosemary had looked around the group expectantly, then simply shook her head as Kyla and Stephanie pointed at each other, while Sasha just shook her head. Surrounding it was a collection of brightly wrapped presents, obviously the ‘present’ table. Amidst the larger tables were smaller circular tables, with four or five chairs around each. Most of them simply had a centerpiece that was made from a mason jar style lantern with a cutout of Bambi, Thumper, or Flower, each a different pastel color; a small flame-less tea light flickering in each one. One table stood out, between its chairs being limited to two, and the larger centerpiece: a small green mason jar that held flowers, with a tiny Bambi toy next to its side, atop a wooden picnic basket, yellow roses around the basket.  
  
Before long, everyone that meant the most to them were there, his family and hers that lived in California, her friends and the members of his group that had stayed in the state after graduation. All in all, they had just under twenty in attendance; laughter filling the air as they called each other out on saying the word ‘baby’ throughout the afternoon.  
  
Aside from the ‘baby’ game, they had a collection of printable games, leading to an endless amount of laughable moments. Stephanie’s purse easily won the ‘what’s in your purse game’, leaving plenty of the guys from Andrew’s friends to just stare in amazement at what had come out of her purse…. Dyllan accusing her of having Mary Poppins’ purse.  
  
Some of the names that the others suggested for the ABC Baby Name Game were truly outrageous, though no one could quite top Aidan’s ‘L’ name, using one he had heard back in high school… Why anyone would name their child Lemonjello, let alone how it was pronounced, really just boggled everyone’s minds.  
  
Most of them had been boggled by the quiz that had them circling the gender that went with which ‘old wives’ tale’, Claudia and Maryanne winning that one hands down as they tied in correct answers, while some of the answers for filling in the blank for nursery rhymes had been obviously been done for amusement more than reality.  
  
After all, I’m a little teapot should definitely not have been so perverse… And Mary had somehow become stoned with her new modern garden.  
  
Andrew and Rosemary shared a long look, thanking God that at least his siblings weren’t young enough that this was a serious problem when one took into account the mentality of a bunch of early twenty-somethings.  
  
Of course, the fact Claudia had the worst interpretation of The Grand old Duke of York, was just beside the point.  
  
Max reigned supreme when it came to matching baby animal names to their species, while Donovan won the Baby Bingo, when they finally opened the assorted gifts, crossing blankets, dresses, booties, bottles, and socks off his card first.  
  
Aside from the more traditional collection of gifts, they’d had new decorations for the nursery before the day was over, including three different mobiles that had led to Andrew and Rosemary sharing a long look… They had completely forgotten about a mobile, and had a suspicion that Arianna had told people they had forgotten about a mobile.  
  
They had to admit, their family and friends could be creative. There was a simple mobile that was three felt rain clouds, with crystal ‘raindrops’ hanging below, while the second was a dream catcher mobile, in pale green and pink, with butterflies and feathers. The third was the most elaborate, and had come from one of the relatives in New Orleans, utilizing old covers of the Little Golden Hands Disney books to form a pentagon, with ribbons that framed each cover and trailed below. Aside from Bambi, there was 101 Dalmatians, The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Lady and the Tramp, and the Fox and the Hound. Attached to the ribbons that fell below the books were cutout pictures from the books, with a cutout sitting at the top of each of the covers that corresponded to its book. For Bambi, it was of the scene where Bambi and Thumper met Flower, Bambi’s nose still pressed to Flower’s.  
  
Aside from the mobiles, they’d had a collection of wall decorations, from the pretty mundane pages from the books framed as pictures, to the truly unique, a clock made from a cutout of Bambi, Flower, Owl, and the Rabbit Family staring towards the clock in the middle, done on a vinyl record.  
  
The party had broken up around four, as long drives were ahead for most of their friends and family, leaving the two of them to stay in Rolling Hills for the night, enjoying a peaceful weekend with the family.  
  
Claudia found them sitting in the living room, as Rosemary slowly worked through folding up the various articles of clothing they had received, Andrew playing fetch with Yasu while they talked. Rosemary just smiled at her mother-in-law as she sat down next to her, picking up the onesie that was on top of the pile and started folding it.  
  
“There are leftover sandwiches in the fridge,” Claudia spoke after, and Rosemary just grinned at her. “Hard to believe it’s only another eight weeks.”  
  
“No kidding,” Andrew agreed, tossing the ball.  
  
“You planning on picking a name before you meet her?” she teased with a smile.  
  
“We already did,” Andrew answered, more caught up with Yasu, before his head swung towards them, a deer-in-headlights look on his face.  
  
“Really?” Claudia drew the one word out to sound like several syllables.  
  
“Oops,” Rosemary chuckled at the look on the faces of mother and son. Andrew looked like he was facing the firing squad, while Claudia looked like Pluto did anytime he was contemplating something truly devious in the classic cartoons.  
  
“What do we do?” Andrew turned towards her, and she couldn’t help but take pity on him.  
  
“We trust your mother,” she offered with a shrug.  
  
“Yes, trust your mother,” Claudia countered with a laugh. “I’m guessing it was supposed to stay quiet still…”  
  
“That was the plan,” Andrew sighed, “We finally got Maryanne to stop giving suggestions about names only last month, we don’t want to listen to anyone’s disagreements with our choice.”  
  
“Makes sense,” Claudia nodded, “Well, I suppose I can pretend I didn’t know…”  
  
“Or if you think you can keep a secret…” Rosemary offered with a smile as Claudia’s face went from forlorn acceptance, to kid in a toy store in about twenty seconds flat.  
  
“Scout’s honor,” Claudia spoke quickly, hand in the air, as her other hand crossed over her heart in a quick motion.  
  
“Rosalie,” Andrew voiced with a soft smile. “I insisted,” he added, sending a wink her way.  
  
“Rosalie,” Claudia echoed, a smile spreading over her lips, “I love it, are we calling her Rosie for short?”  
  
“Lee, actually,” she voiced, watching her mother-in-law as the nickname processed.  
  
“I know Grand-mama always wished someone would carry on the Lee in the family, and since it died out with your generation…” Andrew trailed off, unsure.  
  
“I think that’s just precious,” Claudia voiced with a soft smile. “Grand-mama would be overjoyed, sweetheart.”  
  
“I’m glad,” Andrew smiled back, stepping over to wrap his arms around his mother who they both knew would deny having tears in her eyes.  
  
“Rosalie Johnson, it sounds just perfect,” Claudia nodded after she pulled back. “I’m going to go work on dinner,” she voiced, waving a hand before she quickly escaped the room.  
  
“That went well,” Rosemary shook her head, smile tugging at her lips, as she continued folding laundry.  
  
“Mary, my love, you could drive a saint to drink,” Andrew muttered as he crossed over to slump down on the couch next to her. “At least it was mom, not Rach,” he voiced after a moment.  
  
“True, you’re sister would probably have it on Facebook in under an hour just because she’d let it slip to Stephanie…” she smirked as she looked over at him.  
  
“I wonder how long it will take her to realize we didn’t tell her our choice for a middle name…” he mused, reaching forward to pick up a pair of pants.  
  
“I give it about three days max, to fully get over the nickname,” she offered with a grin.  
  
“I say it’s more like twenty-six hours,” Andrew countered with a smirk.  
  
“Winner gets to pick desert next weekend, macaroons or cream puffs,” she winked.  
  
“I see how it is, you need to learn to make them apparently with how obsessed you’ve been with cream puffs and macaroons,” Andrew chuckled. “And mochi… oh the mochi,” he let his head fall back to rest on the couch dramatically.  
  
“Hey, you _like_ the strawberry mochi,” she countered, flicking him with the onesie she had in hand.  
  
“I deny everything,” he argued, letting his fingers tangle gently in her hair to scratch at her scalp.  
  
She simply hummed in response, going back to her folding and enjoying the peace and quiet while they could, as Yasu curled up next to the collection of gifts to nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I almost didn't make it thanks to a duck cake decapitation itself last night and the need to remake it the morning of the birthday party... but I made it my loves :-)
> 
> Hope you enjoy their party :-)


	5. July 21st, 2019 (part 1)

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
**  
**Sunday, July 21st, 2019  
** **Irvine, California  
** **4:03 a.m.  
**  
**:-:-:-:-:-:  
**  
He had the half-remembered memories of holding Jean for the first time, remembered the overwhelming love he’d felt for his son that had made him unable to part from him and allow Lola to leave as she had planned.  
  
Even so, it hadn’t prepared him for the feeling of holding their Rosalie for the first time.  
  
In that moment, as he stared down at her tiny nose, her blue eyes opened wide, looking around desperate to understand what was going on, even though he knew logically she couldn’t really clearly see anything, all he knew was that he’d quite honestly give his life for her. He knew he’d spend every day of the rest of his life determined to cherish her, to protect her from every danger, to make her laugh and smile.  
  
He never thought he’d love anyone the way he loved his Mary, and yet he could see now in that moment that he could love someone just as much as her. A different love true, but just as all-encompassing and life-altering as the love he held for the woman who laid on the bed next to where he sat, head turned to watch as he held their daughter, eyes fighting against the exhaustion she felt after twenty hours of labor, but her grip on his arm was strong and sure as she kept a physical link to him and the child she’d worked so hard to bring into the world.  
  
It had been just around dawn that she realized she was in labor the morning before, and they’d waited a couple of hours to be sure it wasn’t just a third case of Braxton Hick contractions, before finally going to the hospital. Maryanne had been notified and was expected in roughly seven to eight hours, while his family had shown up in less than three. From text conversations, they had known that Sasha, Kyla, Jessie, Stephanie, and Tom were meeting up in Vallejo and heading out by noon, leaving at least a couple more hours where it had just been them as they waited through the early period of waiting.  
  
Everyone had made it to Irvine in time to be there when Rosemary went into hard labor, and promptly kicked everyone who had remained after the others retired for the night out. They'd been cycling through in groups of three per regulations throughout the day, only departing as nightfall had given reason for sleep, leaving only their mothers and Sasha behind initially. Of the three that were left, some took the news they had intended to be alone once Rosemary started hard labor better than others… well truthfully everyone took it better than Maryanne.  
  
In the end, it was just him and Rosemary, their midwife and another nurse, as Rosemary leaned back against him striving to bring their child into the world. Rosalie’s first cries had been music to both of their ears, and a part of Andrew hoped that she never picked up the sheer amount of profane language her mother apparently knew in not just one but five languages.  
  
Thankfully, the midwife and nurse had been clueless at how often his normally polite and calm wife used a colorful collection of swear words to deal with the pain of her contractions, insisting on not taking anything more than the most basic of pain pills during the earlier hours of the day.  
  
He’d sent a text out to everyone waiting to tell them Rosalie had arrived, when his brain actually clicked in enough to function… which didn’t happen until after they had pointed out he needed to cut the cord if he was going to like planned. Initially, he’d simply continued supporting Rosemary as she stared down in awe at their daughter who had been laid upon her chest after a quick pat dry, everyone taking into account how Rosemary had developed an interesting case of skin sensitivity as her pregnancy progressed.  
  
The fact that went hand in hand with an increasing amount of migraine headaches still worried him, but he stayed silent on the matter as she insisted it was probably just the extra hormones and would be fine when she recovered from being pregnant. Considering her occasional ones through the years that connected to her dreams, he figured he had a reason to worry, but he also figured she knew better than him, seeing as he wasn’t the one dealing with pregnancy hormones, and he had never suffered through a migraine a day in his life.  
  
Text sent to alert the family that Rosalie had arrived, he had returned to the chair scooted next to the bed and spent the rest of their daughter’s first hour of life just taking it all in, unable to keep from touching Rosemary or Rosalie as much as possible.  
  
When the hour was up, they’d kept watch as she was taken to the other side of the room for all her measurements and tests, and he had gathered a warm washcloth and her toiletry bag to gently wash Rosemary’s face, neck and chest, cleaning her up a little then carefully re-braiding her hair. She’d simply smiled at him tiredly, grateful he remembered her request to get some semi-balance of normality back after labor.  
  
And when they were done with their exam and bath for Rosalie, they’d presented him with her all carefully bundled up, allowing more time for just the three of them as the staff slipped away to help someone else.  
  
Which was how he found himself at near dawn, staring down at her, with Rosemary watching them both, pretty well on her way to dreamland which they both knew was unavoidable even if she seemed determined to stay awake as long as possible.  
  
“You have no idea how long we’ve waited to meet you,” he whispered finally, as Rosalie’s eyes began to stay closed longer between blinks.  
  
“Worth it,” Rosemary mumbled, before a soft snore escaped her, and Andrew just chuckled lightly.  
  
“So very worth it,” he agreed, leaning down to gently kiss the surprisingly red wisps of hair that peeked out of the tiny knit cap on Rosalie’s head. “Welcome to the world, Rosalie Anne,” his lips barely moved against her cap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's just a short moment this time, next chapter will be someone else's view of this momentous event ;-)


	6. July 21st, 2019 (part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my darlings,
> 
> Sorry, I haven't responded to reviews (going to go do that now), it's been a crazy week. I won't be back online until later in the week so I probably won't get back to reviews again until possibly next Saturday, I'm going out of town for a funeral so won't have as much internet access with all the family events.
> 
> Hope you guys like getting someone else's point of view on things this week. :-)

**:-:-:-:-:-:**  
  
**Sunday, July 21st, 2019**  
**Irvine, California**  
**2:26 p.m.**  
  
:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
The last twenty-four hours had been full of ups and downs, and thank the universe she had surprisingly made a couple of new friends that morning, or she might have actually committed fratricide.  
  
Donovan had been going out of his mind with boredom for the better part of the last day, and she was about ready to kill him. As much as she loved her younger brother, she’d come about two inches from just putting him out of her misery seven times since they’d left Rolling Hills the day before.  
  
Thank God her parents had been smart and booked a hotel room for the next week, that was all Arianna had to say on the matter.  
  
She’d been practicing her violin, which had been a late in life decision to learn an instrument during her fight with cancer, and thank the universe her parents had just nodded and not argued when she insisted on music lessons after she got the all clear on the cancer. Fighting for your life when you were still in middle school left her determined that she was going to finally be brave enough to learn to play the instrument that had always kind of fascinated her, even while she had been so dedicated to her dance. Practice had been interrupted when the sound of Mom yelling for Dad had pulled her away from her room, and it had taken about five minutes for her to understand what was going on and be back in her room gathering together a collection of things to go with, while Donovan had finally stuck his head and looked at her confused as to what Mom had been yelling about.  
  
Boys, she was infinitely sure, were either born with filters in their ears they could turn on and off, or possibly just dumb up until the age of twenty.  
  
By the time Mom had gotten off the phone with Andrew, Arianna had already gathered together what she intended to take with her to wait at the hospital for however long it took for Rosemary to have the baby - which consisted of journals for writing in and her preferred style of pens; The Princess Bride coloring book she’d been working on and her favorite collection of wood-less colored pencils, plus art erasers; and everything for her electronic needs. As such, she’d been calmly packing up her Disney Cruise Line backpack with all her stuff, when Donovan finally seemed to key into the fact that something was going on.  
  
It had been pathetic, really it had.  
  
Then again, he was twelve, she really shouldn’t expect any better… even if she knew she’d been doing a lot better at paying attention to things at twelve.  
  
Though, maybe she had grown up faster due to the cancer…  
  
When Mom had poked her head in and told her to pack for a week, Arianna hadn’t batted an eye, simply turned and dug out the matching suitcase that came with her backpack for her last birthday, along with a note saying they were going on a cruise next summer. It had only taken three years of her asking to go on a Disney Cruise!  
  
She and Rosemary had immediately started plotting that same evening that she’d received her backpack, suitcase, and the itinerary for their trip to the Caribbean, and even if it wasn’t fully in stone, she already had a map of ideas up on her cork-board for the trip. Part of the reason she loved Rosemary so much was that she finally had _someone_ who appreciated Disney. And yes, she wasn’t quite the Disney fan that her sister-in-law was, but she still loved all things Mickey, all things Marie from Aristocats, and probably had an unhealthy obsession with Stitch.  
  
Not that most people were even aware, she was still quite firmly, and obviously to the rest of the world, enthralled in her dancing, horses, and enjoyment of art.  
  
Her recent addition of the violin only gave her more things to appear to be into over something as obvious as a Southern California girl who liked Disney.  
  
On the other hand, Rosemary had seen right through her little innocent act and apparently keyed into her favorites with almost no effort.  
  
Which was both disconcerting and amazing at the same time.  
  
They’d sit for hours via text debating plot points, character development, and making plans for traveling to Disneyland together anytime their schedules could line up, which wasn’t often truth be told, but Arianna just liked having someone to talk to about these things. Donovan was firmly into his sports, Rachel was knee deep in wedding plans and her total enthrallment in her goal to costume the world, and Andrew had never really understood anything Disney, so having Rosemary was simply the best thing in the world about her brother falling in love.  
  
And okay, she was pretty damn excited about being an aunt.  
  
Which was why she had even bothered to try to teach herself to crochet after the school year ended and she had more time on her hands, so she could make booties after seeing the ones her friend Susan’s grandmother had made her. In the end, she pulled off three sets, one that was inspired by Stitch in color scheme, a white and pink one that was based off Marie, and a set that was black with red and yellow after her absolute favorite character of all. All three were carefully added to her backpack with all her electronics and art supplies, as she’d been determined to surprise Rosemary and Andrew with them the day her niece came into the world.  
  
Once she had her own things packed and ready to go, she had emerged and been grateful to see that her sibling _known_ for procrastinating was ready to go as well, and she crossed her fingers in hopes that he’d not forgotten anything, knowing he would end up driving her crazy with his complaints all week.  
  
Within twenty minutes, they were on the road in the ‘family’ car, also known as Mom’s Prius, and she was passing the time listening to music and playing around on her new iPad Mini, the birthday gift she had requested and gotten approved in part she knew because she had opted to stick with her old iPhone 7 when everyone else, including Donnie, upgraded to the 8. Next to her, Donnie was lost on the Nintendo Switch they’d gotten for Christmas, though he played infinitely more often than she did, and they had a peaceful trip.  
  
Dad had dropped the three of them off at Kaiser, then gone to check-in at the hotel, leaving them to hunt down Rosemary and Andrew, backpacks in tow for things to do, prepared to wait. Rachel had made sure to sufficiently warn both of them about how long it took to wait for a baby to arrive, having learned the hard way with her and Donnie as she put it.  
  
They’d found Rosemary and Andrew half playing a game of Gin, while she paced around the room with music playing, and they’d quickly dealt everyone else in while Rosemary continued alternating pacing with sitting and playing with them.  
  
Rachel and Max arrived about an hour after them, and they started doing shifts since they were only allowed in the room in groups of three, dividing their time between the room where they played games with Andrew and Rosemary, or out in the waiting room. She was grateful she thought to bring so much to do, especially after Donnie found himself with only his iPhone when the Switch’s battery died.  
  
Three hours after Rachel and Max arrived, Rosemary’s mom arrived the groups were reconfigured all over again, only to have to figure out a new configuration when Rosemary’s circle of friends arrived. Though, having the ‘Gang’ as Rosemary and Andrew called them there, Andrew’s friends were the ‘Guys’, meant Donnie had no more reason to complain about batteries since Tom and Jesse immediately pulled out Mad Quao for those who wanted to participate. The rest of the time until visiting hours were over was spent with part of the group down in the cafeteria quietly playing Mad Quao - well quiet for Mad Quao, and going up in shifts to spent twenty minutes with Andrew and Rosemary, while the other part just did whatever it seemed. Rosemary’s mom never joined in on Mad Quao, though she also suspected that the only time her mom left the hospital room was when she and Donnie tried to take their time with Andrew and Rosemary, which of course meant either Mom, Dad, or Rachel joined and Rosemary’s Mom had no choice.  
  
Eventually though, no Rosalie in sight, and visiting hours over, everyone got shipped to find places to stay the night with the exception of Mom, Sasha, and Rosemary’s mom.  
  
Arianna had caught Stephanie muttering that Sasha was a better woman than her for volunteering to stay, and she had shared a long look with her sister, both still debating if their brother deserved some medal for putting up with his mother-in-law based off of what Rosemary’s oldest friends seemed to think of the woman.  
  
She had been sitting up watching a movie with Dad when Mom finally arrived home just after midnight, Donnie having opted to skip the movie and just go chill out in the room he was sharing with Rachel and Max. She wasn’t sure if it was because Dad and Mom didn’t like the setup, or something else, but instead of getting a two-bedroom suite, they’d opted to get two one-bedroom suites that were on the same hall, leaving her and Donnie regulated to the sofa beds that came with the one-bedroom suites. They’d quickly learned that the baby hadn’t arrived yet, but Rosemary had entered the final stage of labor and it had always been planned that it would only be her and Andrew at that time, so Sasha had driven her home while Rosemary’s mom had been shipped off to her hotel, Sasha going to join everyone else at Andrew and Rosemary’s place.  
  
She suddenly understood all of Rachel’s warnings about babies taking forever.  
  
She’d been awoken in the night by the sound of multiple text messages going off, including her own ring-tone that was inspired by the Chinese Dance from The Nutcracker, finding the announcement from Andrew that Rosalie Anne Johnson had been born at two-forty-seven in the morning and they’d see everyone during visiting hours the next day. She had simply blinked a few times, put her phone back down, then gone back to sleep with the vague sounds of Mom and Dad talking in their room as background noise.  
  
As such though, she hadn’t been surprised to see Mom and Dad up bright and early. True, she’d known that part of it was work, evident by Dad quietly working away at the desk in the room, and Mom was talking with Lucille based on the conversation in progress in the kitchen area as Mom made coffee. She also figured they were hoping to be at the hospital for the start of visiting hours, which meant she only had a limited time to get herself ready.  
  
She had just smiled at both of them, dug out her AirPods and listened to Tchaikovsky while she cleaned up the sofa bed and stashed the linens in the laundry basket in the closet after Mom had texted the suggestion, and returned the bed to a couch, before debating whether she should do breakfast first or a shower. Catching the time, she pulled her hair back in a ponytail, threw a scarf on over it since she didn’t feel like messing with the insanity that was her curls, grabbed her iPad Mini and a hoodie, and wrote a note on the hotel notepad near mom explaining she was going to grab breakfast, getting a thumbs up in response.  
  
Sometimes, she loved the privileges that came with being fifteen.  
  
Breakfast was buffet style, which she took complete advantage of, doctoring her scrambled eggs up with tomatoes and cheese, and there was just something indulgent in getting to have eggs, sausage, and potatoes, _and_ fresh Belgian-style waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Taking her food to a quiet corner table, she’d taken the time to get a glass of juice and prepare a cup of tea - they had English Teatime, she was in heaven - then ensconced herself away with her iPad and touched base with her friends. She hadn’t been surprised to see Andrew had put a picture up on Facebook, that someone in the nursing staff must have taken of him, Rosemary, and Rosalie.  
  
She couldn’t wait to see her niece in person.  
  
She had waved at her sister when Rachel appeared, gathering a plate of pastries to take upstairs with some fresh fruit, and pretty much enjoyed every moment of her time alone, knowing that today was undoubtedly going to be another long day of just sitting around with lots of company. And okay, she liked Rosemary’s circle of friends and Andrew’s friend Jesse, so it wasn’t like it was an incredible hardship; but having some peace and quiet was always a good thing.  
  
Especially if she was going to be hanging around a hospital all day. Not that there was something inherently wrong with hospitals, she just got a little anxious being around the familiar silence that seemed to permeate hospitals. It was that sort of silence that spoke volumes, all the quiet emotions that filled the space from people being there at all hours of the day, every day and night…  
  
It took her more than minutes than she’d probably admit later, to realize that she was being watched, though she’d only blinked once, then a second time, when she realized it was coming from a table across the way that held a pair of teenagers. Either family or friends, obvious by the closeness between them, the guy was good looking in that ‘bad boy’ way, dark hair and blue eyes that if she hadn’t been born to a family blessed with incredible blue eyes, would have been breathtaking. Unfortunately, for most of the world, she was born to a family of blue-eyed people and it was rare that what most people considered amazing blue eyes really caught her attention more.  
  
Benedict Cumberbatch was her only real exception to that theory.  
  
The boy was a mix between a young Johnny Depp, and Daniel Radcliffe, slightly long-haired bad boy vibe, worn jeans, band t-shirt, with glasses… And God, she was such her father’s daughter if she was comparing people to actors.  
  
The girl drew her attention the most though, not completely surprising seeing as while she could appreciate a good looking male of the species, it was the females she was always drawn to, even if she hadn’t made her family aware of that fact yet. Slim figure, willowy and tall, with porcelain skin - and wasn’t she just brave being in southern California with that complexion - piercing green eyes and gorgeous auburn ringlets that were perfectly spiraled.  
  
Had to be a perm, no way those curls were natural, if they were, this girl had to have a trio of fairies to go with the obvious Celtic heritage. Well okay, from her own experience, the curls could have been natural, it just took her hours to get her own ringlets tamed, and unless the girl was up at the crack of dawn…  
  
She watched under the guise of reading on her iPad, as the two rose and went to get more hot drinks, then headed her direction, and she had about twenty seconds to panic, before they were inching up to her table in the corner.  
  
“Bonjour mon ami,” the boy spoke, and she realized quickly that the girl probably didn’t simply have Celtic heritage leading to genetics giving her her looks, based off the Irish accent attempting to say French words coming from her companion.  
  
Side note, maybe she should take Rosemary up on that offer to help with French.  
  
She watched as the girl elbowed the boy, who slanted away with an ‘oof’, then sent her a glare as he checked his cup, “Forgive my brother, he has this condition…”  
  
“What condition?” he stared at her aghast even as Arianna looked between them, trying to decide what to do about this development to her day.  
  
“He doesn’t think before he speaks, _ever_ ,” the girl smirked. Arianna swore she just fell in love at the sight of that smirk on the other girl’s face. It was breathtaking. Whatever her brother said, it wasn’t English, and the girl just ignored him as she held a hand, “My name is Siobhán, this is my brother Robert. Forgive us, you’re the first teenager we’ve seen in days, we couldn’t _help_ but come by and say hello.”  
  
Arianna blinked once, then reached out to take the other Siobhán's hand, “Arianna,” she voiced, before glancing over at Robert who was all grins. “Nice to meet you.”  
  
“Please, please, tell us that you are going to be hanging around here for a couple of days,” Robert spoke up, hands rising to cup his travel cup almost like he was trying to pray while still holding it.  
  
“Um, kinda,” she glanced between them again. “I’m visiting for the week, but not sure how much time I’ll be free. My sister-in-law just gave birth this morning, so we’re going to be visiting them. Are you guys not doing anything in the area for entertainment?”  
  
“Afraid not,” Robert sighed dramatically. “Our Uncle is here on business for the month, our Aunt has the twin terrors with her while we got exchanged so our cousin Maeve could spend the summer back home learning the family trade. Somehow, they seem to have assumed we'd just find ways to entertain ourselves with all the interesting things to do in America…”  
  
“Robert is bored out of his mind, and he's taking me to insanity with him,” Siobhán shrugged. “So, if you do have any free time and feel like having someone our age to talk to, we're desperate for socialization,” she winked, before leaning down to pick up the Apple pen, quickly writing something on the screen. “That's my Facebook, feel free to message me,” she added with a smile. “Come on brother of mine, let's go call mum before she has a meltdown that we missed our daily call.”  
  
Arianna just watched them go, before glancing down to see a name written across the screen, ‘Siobhán Gallagher - Ardmore, Ireland’. Blinking, she pulled out her phone and opened up Facebook, finding Siobhán quickly enough.  
  
It took her a few minutes, but she figured why not and sent a message hello, figuring new friends weren't a bad thing.  
  
By the time she'd finished her shower when she got upstairs, and was ready to go to the hospital, Siobhán had her in a private message and a group message with Robert. Which had proved blessedly distracting when they arrived at the hospital to join the rotation for Andrew and Rosemary's time, as apparently getting Maryanne Douglas to leave was proving difficult at first and they still had a visitor limit to deal with.  
  
Finally, it was their turn, which was a blessing seeing as she had _completely_ reached her limit with her brother’s whining, and even her new friends weren’t enough of a distraction.  
  
As they opened the door to the room they had been moved to at some point, the first thing Arianna saw was her older brother, looking down at what was in his arms.  
  
She didn’t remember ever seeing a look on Andrew’s face like he wore now as he gazed down at the blanket wrapped bundle in his arms.  
  
Mom was at Andrew’s side in a heartbeat, cooing over the granddaughter she’d been eagerly awaiting for months even as Andrew carefully shifted Rosalie into her arms, while Dad stepped aside and waved her and Donnie into the room.  
  
Glancing around she found Rosemary was sitting up in the bed, looking tired but happy, and she made her way over to her sister-in-law first, letting her mom enjoy Rosalie first. “How are you?” she asked with a smile, leaning over to hug Rosemary.  
  
“I’m alright,” Rosemary smiled, “Getting used to not getting a lot of sleep,” she chuckled lightly. “How’s your weekend been?”  
  
Arianna snorted, “It’s been eventful,” she offered, looking over at where Donnie was now holding their new niece with a look that was a combination of awe and abject horror. “I made a couple of friends this morning,” she voiced, eyes darting back to Rosemary as she realized what she had said.  
  
“That’s good,” Rosemary nodded, “At least you might have someone to hang out with while you guys are here for the week. You aren’t going to want to hang out at the hospital all day long again, or even at the house when we get to go home Tuesday morning.”  
  
“True,” she nodded, “Oh, I have a gift for Rosalie,” she moved quickly to put her backpack down on the table, pulling out the three sets of booties she made, her way back to Rosemary’s side, Andrew sitting on the corner of the bed as well now that their daughter was being passed around. She accepted his one-armed hug, then handed him the Stitch set, and Rosemary the Marie set, setting her Mickey set down on the bed between them all.  
  
“Did you make these?” Rosemary was carefully turning them around in her fingers, a bright smile taking over her features as looked over at the bed. “Mickey?” she asked with a smile as she looked back up at her.  
  
“Yeah, to both,” Arianna shrugged self-consciously as her Dad came over to see what was going on.  
  
“Stitch?” James asked with a smile as he pointed at the pair Andrew held.  
  
“And Marie,” she nodded towards Rosemary’s set. “I made the Marie set newborn to three months, Stitch and Mickey are three to six months, so they can last a while.”  
  
“They’re wonderful, sis,” Andrew whispered, pressing a kiss against her hair.  
  
“Thank you,” Rosemary spoke, looking towards the suitcase against the wall, “I think the pink and white ones will go perfect with the outfit we planned her to wear home from the hospital even, they can be part of her christening set.”  
  
“You don’t have to…” Arianna hurried to say.  
  
“Nonsense,” Andrew waved away her protests. “Stop overthinking things sis, and simply appreciate the thanks,” he continued, before their dad was stepping back and Donnie was in his place.  
  
“Your turn, before I drop her,” he whispered quickly, and Arianna had about ten seconds to get her arms out as Donnie was handing her over, which, of course, had not just her reaching out in panic but also Rosemary, Andrew, and Dad.  
  
“Right, we’re going to work on your self-confidence,” Claudia spoke, leading Donnie over to the couch to sit down, and she could vaguely hear Mom telling him to breathe.  
  
Arianna breathed slowly, calming her own racing heartbeat as she carefully moved Rosalie closer to her own body, Rosemary’s hands underneath her arms providing support. “You got her?” Rosemary asked softly, and she glanced up to see that Rosemary didn’t look scared to death like she would have imagined, which meant that all things considered it appeared Rosemary wasn’t afraid of her dropping her newborn daughter.  
  
“I got her,” she nodded, taking the spot on the bed after Rosemary moved the booties and patted it. As she stared down at Rosalie, she took in everything she could see about her small niece, seeing red hair that was more than a little surprising, unless maybe Rosemary’s hair had started out redder than it currently was, and blue eyes that didn’t quite look like Andrew’s, but then she remembered hearing that most babies started off with blue or gray eyes. She looked a bit like Andrew though, and was very lovely for a baby. “It looks like she’s looking right at me, but babies can’t see that well initially, right?”  
  
“I think she’s responding to our voices more than anything,” Rosemary agreed. “You still thinking you wanted to come spend time with us next month?” she asked with a grin.  
  
“Definitely,” Arianna looked up at her with a smile. “We still need to plot for Disney World after all.”  
  
“Hope you’re okay not getting a full night’s sleep,” Andrew chuckled.  
  
“I can live with that,” Arianna smiled, carefully shifting so she could move her hand that wasn’t supporting most of Rosalie’s weight to brush gently against her niece’s wisps of hair peeking out of the little cap over her forehead. “She’s so very small.”  
  
“She’ll grow, by leaps and bounds,” Andrew nodded, “You and Donnie did…”  
  
“That’s good, maybe Donnie won’t be so scared of her when she’s bigger,” she grinned at her brother across the room, who just rolled his eyes.  
  
“We’ll all get plenty of time to interact with Rosalie as she gets bigger,” Claudia promised, reaching out to rest her hand on Arianna’s dark curls.  
  
“After all, Lee is going to need lots of time with her favorite Aunts and Uncle,” Andrew agreed.  
  
“Oh my God,” Donovan gulped. “I’m really an uncle…” he looked up at them all, fear coloring his features once more. “It’s not funny,” he added darkly as every adult in the room just laughed.  
  
“Don’t worry,” she leaned down to whisper in Rosalie’s ear, “when you need someone normal, just find me.”


	7. July 16th, 2020

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my darlings,  
> Another week has come and gone, and I hope everyone is doing well.

**:-:-:-:-:-:**  
  
**Thursday, January 16th, 2020**  
**Irvine, California**  
**6:52 p.m.**  
  
**:-:-:-:-:-:**  
  
Andrew took a deep breath as he sat in the car he’d just pulled into the garage. A part of him was ecstatic to be home, as he always was, having time at the end of the day with his dear Mary and their little Lee, having time with Yasu who had gotten through the harder stages of puppyhood and was incredibly protective of their family. The other part was dreading walking in the house and having to have a long conversation with his love about what had happened that day at work.  
  
They’d always known this was a possibility, he had just hoped they’d have more time.  
  
The door opened from the house, and he watched as Rosemary stuck her head out, eyebrow-raising when she saw him still in the car, before she glanced back inside a moment then slipped out to walk over to his window, which he automatically lowered at her approach.  
  
“You’re just in time, we’re about to head out for our evening walk,” she smiled as she leaned down to rest her arms against the door frame. “You up to joining us?”  
  
“Sure,” he agreed with an easy smile, part of him wondering why he’d been so afraid. This was his Mary, the most easy going woman he’d ever met. “Let me get changed,” he continued, unbuckling his seatbelt as she straightened and stepped back.  
  
“No worries, I’m just finishing a letter to Rose while Lee is on Skype with mom.”  
  
“Weekly call?” he clarified as he emerged from the car, debating if he needed to actually say hi to his mother-in-law or not.  
  
“Weekly call, since we are going to your parents this weekend. So no follow-up call until next weekend,” she winked before leaning up to gently press her lips against his, then dart back into the house.  
  
“Yea for small miracles,” he muttered to himself, before heading inside, waving towards Maryanne on the tv, though he wasn’t sure if she could really see him, but he heard Rosemary telling her that he waved, as he headed up to change into comfortable clothes.  
  
They were going to need a better setup for video chatting.  
  
By the time he had finished getting himself comfortable, Maryanne was gone, and Rosalie was sitting up in her bumbo, with Yasu laying near her chair, head down on the ground appearing completely relaxed. Yasu’s eyes followed him from the stairs to their side though, so Andrew knew his dog was on full alert.  
  
Rosalie’s eyes lit up and she was reaching up for him as he came close, “Hello my darling,” he spoke with a smile as he reached down to pick her up, cuddling her close for a moment before pulling back as he shifted her to his left him, raising his right hand to do the sign for ‘I love you’ even as he said the words.  
  
Rosemary smiled from the dining room area, and he vaguely wondered why she had that particular knowing grin, before he processed the fact Rosalie was waving a hand around. Looking back at her, he blinked once, then again, as he realized she had her middle and ring finger curled in as much as she could and was doing her best to mimic the way his hand looked. “Mary?” he asked, even he could hear the amazement in his voice.  
  
“She started it today according to Natasha,” she answered with a smile as she crossed to them, “Aren’t you just the smartest girl,” she praised with a smile, “You answered your daddy,” she continued with a smile, reaching out to tickle Rosalie’s belly lightly, causing her to laugh.  
  
“Baby sign language for the win?” he looked over at Rosemary with a smile.  
  
“Baby sign language for the win,” she agreed, reaching out to brush back the once red curls that had turned auburn like her mother’s with time, though Rosemary hoped that she’d keep the curls as she got older. “Shall we go for a walk my love?” she asked Rosalie, who just grinned at them both, before looking over at Yasu who had raised his head from the floor and was watching them intently, tail moving even as the rest of his stayed still at a word that sounded similar to his key phrase. “Walkies Yasu?” she added, and Yasu shot to his feet, then calmly trotted to the front door. “Also, all that training you did with Yasu for the win, just saying,” she winked, before heading to get Yasu’s stuff.  
  
Andrew shook his head, returning his attention to Rosalie, “Aren’t you just the smartest girl in the world,” he praised as they moved towards the front door where Yasu was getting hooked into his harness. “Before we know it, you’ll be bossing us around to get your food and drink.”  
  
Rosalie’s giggles filled the air as they made their way outside and got her settled in the stroller, he taking Yasu’s leash while Rosemary took control of the stroller, and they stared down the street to wander past their neighbor’s houses, the same route taken every day to give Yasu and Rosalie fresh air and Rosemary the exercise she insisted she needed to lose what was left of the extra weight she gained with Rosalie.  
  
His arguments that she looked fine just the way she was falling on deaf ears, as Rosemary was insistent to get back down the same size pants she’d been wearing before she got pregnant. She had fully accepted she wasn’t going to go down in shirt size until she stopped breastfeeding, so he supposed he should be thankful she wasn’t as crazy about her weight loss as she could be.  
  
They wandered along for the first twenty minutes, Rosemary sharing what news had come from England. Lilianna was exactly three days younger than Rosalie, so Rose Lynn and she were already plotting to have the two start skyping each other when they were a few years older, meanwhile, the two cousins were enjoying sharing milestones their daughters were meeting and making plans for a Disney trip when the girls were older… the current plot was Disneyland Paris when they were around seven…  
  
That was the sixth incarnation of the plan that had been made so far, and Andrew strongly suspected it wasn’t going to be the last.  
  
Aside from how the trio in London was doing, Colin had apparently started seeing a woman he met in town, though Rose Lynn wasn’t sure if he father would actually marry again or just enjoy the companionship. Arthur and Joan had another horse that won in racing, so they were celebrating that, while Rose the elder had given them all a scare with a nasty cold, even Rosemary had been worrying about it as the holidays passed, but she looked on the mend.  
  
Andrew had a feeling Rose Douglas was determined to make it to her hundredth birthday, at least, and God help Death if he tried to claim her before then since she’d just had her ninety-ninth and was so close to the milestone.  
  
They were circling back, when Rosemary leaned into his side, nudging him slightly, and asked what happened at work that day.  
  
Reaching out, he linked his free hand’s fingers with her own atop the bar of the stroller, and let out a long breath. “They pulled me in today to talk about my future,” he began after a moment.  
  
“I thought you were doing alright?” she frowned, looking up at him.  
  
“Oh, I am,” he nodded. “So well, in fact, they want to send me to Boston…” he paused, waiting to see her reaction.  
  
“Permanently?” she asked after several moments of silence.  
  
“Yeah,” he agreed softly.  
  
It took another long moment, before Rosemary was nodding, “Alright, so we’re going to Boston,” she looked up at him. “When do they want you to go?”  
  
Andrew blinked down at her, before shaking his head, “Is there anything that you can’t just process and go with the flow of in under ten minutes?”  
  
“Plenty,” she shrugged, “but I’ve been waiting for this since you finished your internship. Besides, we said we’d stay in Irvine for now because we knew that something like this could happen,” she reminded him with a smile. “So, when do they want you in Boston?”  
  
He shook his head again, leaning down to kiss the top of hers, before straightening, “April, they want me to start as close to the first as possible.”  
  
He heard the intake of breath, felt as her fingers tightened on the bar, before she breathed out slowly, “Arianna will be disappointed we missed the Disney trip. I can talk to Daniel and let him know I have to resign early, he’ll understand why I can’t finish the school year. And we should start looking for places right away. We can tell your parents this weekend…”  
  
“Stop starting your ‘to do’ list,” he instructed, bringing them to a stop. Yasu looked up at him in surprise, before going to sit next to Rosalie and the stroller at the hand signal he gave the dog, letting the leash fall to the ground a moment so he could turn Rosemary towards him and wrap his arms around her. “You’re jumping the gun on me, sweetheart,” he added gently.  
  
“That’s just a little more than three months, how am I jumping the gun, Andrew?” she challenged, though she didn’t pull back from his embrace.  
  
“I’ve already been thinking things through. I made it part of my agreement that I will get the time off for the trip. Actually, it’s in writing that my last day will be twenty-fourth, and I’m not due back until the twenty-fourth of July. It means I won’t have any more vacation time until the following January, but it does mean I can meet you guys in Orlando, and fly back here after so we can do Rosalie’s first birthday with everyone,” he began, thinking back over the plans he already set in motion. “As to your work, I was thinking we could switch the lease to a month to month when we are due for renewal, so you can finish the school year out. And there will be plenty of time to have the girls come down as often as they can to help with packing, and we can move you, Rosalie, and the animals out after you finish the school year, whether that’s before or after the Florida trip we can decide later. We can go look for places, and I can just go towards the end of March and move into the new place, giving plenty of time for me to maybe paint it however we want before you guys join.”  
  
Rosemary had pulled back part way through his speech, and he could see how she was eying him with the look that Stephanie had once deemed the ‘ _you’re an idiot_ ’ look, though he saw it fading as he continued to explain his plan. Instead, she had the ‘ _I don’t like it_ ’ look, lips pursed together in annoyance, but she didn’t immediately argue. Finally, she simply shook her head, and slipped out of his arms to start pushing the stroller once more.  
  
They were quiet as they walked the rest of the way home, he knew better than to push her while she mulled over his idea, instead letting her process and contemplate. It wasn’t until they were in the house, Rosalie settled into her high chair while he worked on getting her to eat her dinner of sweet potatoes and parsnips with a side of avocado, as Rosemary finished up their dinner, that his patience paid off.  
  
“I don’t like it,” she started as she plated their food. “I _really_ don’t like the idea of you being in Boston for three months without us,” she frowned as she walked over to set his plate down in front of him. “But, I can see the logic,” she admitted. “Sometimes I hate how logical you are,” she huffed, before a small smile slipped through.  
  
“You love me though,” he challenged. “Besides, this way you can still go north for Memorial Day at the beach with the girls.”  
  
“And how am I getting up there?” she raised an eyebrow as she sat down with her own plate.  
  
“There’s always the train,” he pointed out.  
  
She rolled her eyes, “The train doesn’t work that way sweetheart, it’s an all-day trip, I’d arrive Saturday afternoon at the earliest. That’s why we were driving up after work on Friday, six hours to get there, get some sleep, and be semi-coherent when we travel en-mass to the Campground the next day.”  
  
Andrew nodded, “Okay, true, we’ll contemplate options,” he countered. “Point is, there is still the possibility of you seeing the girls for camping this year since you didn’t make it last year with being anti-heat thanks to Lee,” he reached out to tickle Rosalie’s ear, before giving her another spoonful of her parsnips.  
  
“Alright, alright,” she sighed. “I’m still starting looking for places tonight, so we need to decide if we’re looking for another condo, or apartment, or an actual house…” she pointed her fork at him.  
  
“Why don’t we start by seeing what options exist for those categories and then decide,” he countered with a smile, “As soon as we get Lee down for her first stretch of sleep for the night. We can take the laptops upstairs, sit in bed and look at our options.”  
  
“Agreed, though you owed me the next episode of Umbrella Academy tonight, mister…”  
  
“So, Umbrella Academy and house hunting, that seems like a good way to spend the night,” he chuckled.  
  
“Deal,” Rosemary grinned. “By the way, you’re helping me tell my mother.”  
  
As both his wife and daughter laughed while he shuddered, he took a moment to appreciate the sound, knowing he was going to go without it for a few months… while also sitting and wishing he didn’t have to deal with Maryanne Douglas, who was about to have kittens over the idea of him moving her only child and grandchild across the country.


	8. May 22nd, 2020

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
****Friday, May 22nd, 2020  
****Lost Hills, California  
****6:17 p.m.  
  
****:-:-:-:-:-:**  
  
“Hi, welcome to Arby’s, are you ready to order?” the mostly chipper teenager asked as they stepped up to the counter.  
  
Rosemary glanced over at Arianna, raising an eyebrow, then watched as Arianna waved her forward, “I’ll take a roast beef gyro, no onion, a crispy chicken salad, no bacon with honey mustard and ranch on the side, and a medium vanilla shake,” she explained, before stepping to the side slightly so Arianna would add her order.  
  
“A turkey ranch and bacon sandwich with loaded curly fries and a chopped side salad with Italian dressing,” Arianna voiced, and they listened as the order was repeated back, Rosemary waving her off when Arianna tried to reach for her wallet. “I’m gonna go wander the convenience store, want me to take the munchkin?” she asked as they moved away to wait for their To Go order.  
  
“You want her?” Rosemary raised an eyebrow, a smile teasing her lips.  
  
“Na!” Rosalie spoke, reaching for her aunt.  
  
“Guess Lee solves the debate,” Arianna laughed, taking Rosalie into her arms and shifting her to sit on a hip, before they headed towards the convenience store leaving Rosemary to wait for their food.  
  
Shaking her head, she pulled out her phone to text an update to Sasha for their location. A brief back and forth followed, updates on Stephanie and Tom’s eta, along with Jessie and Kyla’s. Both couples were due in the morning around seven, plans to take three vehicles this year to support their growing gathering. They even had reserved two camping spots that were next to each other to make it all work this year.  
  
Hearing their number, she gathered their bags into the picnic basket she’d brought from the car, taking her milkshake in hand, she followed after her sister-in-law and daughter, finding them staring intently at the tea options provided. Smirking, she shifted her shake to the hand with the picnic basket so she could pull her phone out and snap a picture, sending it off to Andrew and Claudia as she made her way over to their side.  
  
“Mama!” Rosalie cried when she saw her, grinning up at her.  
  
“Hello darling girl,” she smiled back, “Do you see something you want?”  
  
Rosalie pointed towards the tea, then brought her hand to her mouth in the sign language she’d been taught to use for drink, “Pese.”  
  
“Please,” she corrected automatically, passing her drink to Arianna so she could take Rosalie back, “No, sweetie, you don’t need tea. How about we go look at something you can have?” she countered, smiling at the sixteen-year-old reaching for peach tea who waved her off with the hand that held her shake.  
  
Rosalie stared back at Arianna, before looking up at her with clear annoyance, until they reached the bottled juices and Rosemary pointed towards the character bottles, Rosalie keying into what was going on when she pulled open the door to reach towards the two flavors she was willing to let her daughter have: the Strawberry Kiwi that had vegetable juice in it as well, or the Fruit Punch. Pulling out one of each, she stepped back and set them atop the boxes of crackers on the shelf behind her, “Which one sweetie?” she asked as she pointed between them, “Strawberry Kiwi, or Fruit Punch?”  
  
Rosalie stared intently at the two, before reaching towards the Strawberry Kiwi with it’s top that looked like a Care Bear, and whether she was picking it for it’s flavor, colors, or something else, Rosemary didn’t question. Instead, she simply put the other one away, then took the Strawberry Kiwi one up to the front where Arianna waited with four bottles of tea.  
  
“I like tea,” Arianna grinned.  
  
“I didn’t say a word,” she countered with a laugh, not arguing when Arianna insisted on paying for the drinks. They made their way back out to the tan colored VW bus that was parked in front of the truck stop, opening the side to reveal Yasu waiting patiently for their return.  
  
She thanked the universe every day that Yasu was so well trained, as he sat quietly while they slipped into the van, she and Rosalie settling on the bench seat while Arianna took the single seat across from them that sat with it’s back to the driver’s seat. Rosalie was set in her latest incarnation of a bumbo, tray hooked into place on the seat next to her, while the picnic basket with it’s food from Arby’s was placed on the table. While Arianna worked on sorting out their food, Rosemary worked on setting up Rosalie’s plate, getting her the mac and cheese with peas that she’d made earlier that day and some banana slices. An empty sippy cup gained half the juice from the bottle they’d bought, water being mixed with the remainder and she let her insistent daughter have at her food under their watchful eye while she worked on eating her own meal, chatting idly with Arianna about their plans for the weekend.  
  
As a sweet sixteen gift, Claudia and James had given Arianna her own VW Camper, Arianna having fallen in love with them just as much as Andrew had. When she got her license the day of her sixteenth birthday, she also got the vehicle, and with plotting happening between Sasha, Andrew, and Arianna, the three of them along with Yasu were heading up to join the others in Vallejo for the Memorial Day camp out one last time before Rosemary and Rosalie went east to join Andrew in Boston.  
  
It had been four months since they learned about Andrew’s promotion, two months since he had moved to Boston to set up their new apartment, and Rosemary was counting down the days until they would be reunited in June.  
  
On the other hand, though, she was still trying to come to grips with being on the other side of the country from her oldest friends and the family she had embraced whole-heartedly, especially the girl who was working through cheesy bacon fries across from her.  
  
Over the last two years, she had become especially close to the now sixteen-year-old, and vice versa. Arianna had spent much of her breaks from school staying with them in Irvine during the last year. It hadn’t taken long for Rosemary at least to realize that part of the reason wasn’t just because she liked their company, but that as much as Arianna adored her family, she was more comfortable with her and Andrew while she figured out a certain fact about herself.  
  
The poor girl was completely in love with a girl she had met the week they were in Irvine for Rosalie’s birth, and she simply didn’t know how to handle her own feelings on top of worries about how her family would handle things.  
  
Rosemary was fairly certain that neither James or Claudia would give a flying leap over the idea their youngest daughter was in love with another girl, any more than she thought Rachel or Donovan would care. Andrew just shrugged and was completely accepting of whatever his sister chose to do with her life, same as he had been with Rachel, who was in the midst of the six-month countdown for her own wedding scheduled for November.  
  
Sadly though, Arianna wasn’t at the point that she was comfortable with their faith in her family, and she quite preferred time with her quieter, more relaxed, relatives that were soon to be leaving her.  
  
And, if Rosemary wasn’t mistaken, she had strong suspicions that Arianna was looking at east coast options for school as well.  
  
Whatever Arianna decided, Rosemary would be happy for her, just as she knew that Andrew still held on to the happiness that couldn’t be changed no matter what Arianna did in her life; he was just happy she had a life to be living and doing whatever she wanted during it. Of course, Rosemary suspected that that sentiment was shared by James and Claudia, and probably Rachel, Donovan might be the odd holdout, but that came from his youth.  
  
“We should get on the road, shouldn’t we?” Arianna asked as she finished her curly fries.  
  
“If we’re going to get there not long after midnight as we hoped,” Rosemary agreed, beginning to clean up.  
  
“I’m gonna run and use the restroom inside, you two can meet me there if you want to use the restroom and check Rosalie before we get back on the road.”  
  
“Sounds good,” she smiled, watching as Arianna climbed out of the car and headed towards the truck stop. “Well munchkin, it’s just going to be a few more hours until we get to your Aunt Sasha’s, so let’s get you all cleaned up so you can hopefully sleep in your car seat like you like to do,” she spoke as she turned her attention to getting a wipe and cleaning up her daughter’s food covered face and hands. “Your Aunt Stephanie and Aunt Kyla are going to spoil you rotten while we’re at the beach.”


	9. June 28th, 2020

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for missing a couple of weeks loves, it's been kinda crazy in real life.  
> Hope everyone is well, and hope you enjoy!

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
****Sunday, June 28th, 2020  
****Nassau, Bahamas  
****3:46 p.m.  
  
****:-:-:-:-:-:**  
  
“This is nice,” Andrew spoke as they wandered through Nassau’s Straw Market.  
  
“Very nice,” Rosemary agreed with a smile, her head resting on his shoulder as they walked arm in arm. Arianna was a few stalls ahead, Rosalie in the ring sling, so she rested on Arianna’s left hip at the moment. The umbrella shoulder that they had brought was currently playing host to the few purchases they had made during their excursion around Nassau.  
  
They had all met up at the Orlando International Airport Friday morning, lots of hugs being exchanged and happiness all around. Transportation had taken them to the ship docked in Port Canaveral, where they divided up between the two staterooms that James had reserved, side by side so the divider between the verandas was removed giving them one extra large veranda. The larger of the two rooms was home to James and Claudia, Rachel and Max, and Donovan; while the slightly smaller room was home to the three of them and Arianna.  
  
Their first night aboard the ship had been filled with celebrations as the ship left dock, everyone dancing on the top deck. She, Andrew, and Rosalie had cut out early, leaving the rest of the family to enjoy the full dance party, allowing them some private time to just be together for the first time in months. True, they’d survived on Skype, but it was drastically different than being able to lay in bed with Rosalie between them, enjoying time just the three of them.  
  
They arrived at Disney’s private island early the morning before, seeing where the private cabana James had reserved was before splitting up. James and Claudia had gone snorkeling in the morning and bike riding in the afternoon, while Rachel and Max wandered off for Serenity Bay and it’s adult only area for most of the day. Donovan and Arianna took part in the teen program, leaving the three of them with the cabana mostly to themselves, though the others had wandered back when they wanted to take a break.  
  
They had wandered the island to their heart’s content, ignoring the things that weren’t really great when you had one-year-old, but they had taken the time to wander through the stores and pick up pins and other souvenirs. Rosemary got plenty of pictures of Andrew building a sandcastle with Rosalie on their private section of beach. Rosalie had been wearing the swim set that came from her Grandma, as Maryanne chose to be called, a yellow and white setup with Bambi, Flower, and Thumper. They had opted to use the one from her mom for their beach days, as it covered more of Rosalie, even if she wasn’t using the matching hooded cover-up, as the top half was a full short sleeved shirt. The only flaw with the set had been it came with sandals that were more like flip-flops, but a bit of hand sewing and elastic covered in white cotton had given them a strap along the back of the ankle to hold them on her feet.  
  
Grand-mama, as Claudia chose to be called, had also provided a swim set for their trip, hers being a bikini style two-piece suit with Minnie Mouse and watermelon inspired fabric, with a matching hooded towel and little slippers to protect her.  
  
They’d even picked up a little blue jean cap with mouse ears and a pink bow, complete with a spot to hold sunglasses, which even now Rosalie was wearing.  
  
Their daughter could seriously rock sunglasses.  
  
Aside from sandcastles, they’d taken her into the shallows and Rosalie had great fun playing in the warm water, all smiles and giggles.  
  
They’d met up with everyone for lunch, then separated again, taken pictures with Disney characters when they could find them. They’d gotten drinks at the Olaf inspired drink stand, though the photo op had actually not just weirded out Rosemary, Rosalie had taken one look at the stature of Olaf and promptly began signing ‘no’ again and again until they walked away. She’d been more intrigued by the drink cup that they picked up for her to play with and take home, than the statue.  
  
They had opted to head back to the ship early, beating the crowds, and while Rosalie napped in the pack and play in the living room, she and Andrew had sat on the veranda watching as others returned the ship.  
  
Today they were in Nassau, and everyone else had opted to go over to Atlantis Resort to snorkel with dolphins and enjoy the water park there, while the four of them had opted to instead explore the town with a tour of Ardastra Gardens and Nassau itself. They spent just under two hours, exploring the gardens, seeing the reptiles and birds that were there, including seeing the show all about the Caribbean Flamingos. Rosalie was far more fearless than Rosemary could be, Andrew having to take her over to meet Jackie the snake. The peacock named Freddy, and the cockatoo named Toby were far more her and Arianna’s speed, and they all enjoyed the Lory Parrots.  
  
After they finished at the gardens, they had a narrated tour around the city, during which Rosalie slept most of the time, before being left to their own devices to wander the market. Arianna had volunteered to take Rosalie when she started fussing about being in her stroller, so they dug out the ring sling and let the two go explore ahead.  
  
"I think Rosalie is going to miss Ari," Andrew mused as their daughter's laughter filled the air.  
  
"I think we are all going to miss Ari," she countered. “Though, I strongly suspect she’s looking at East Coast schools, so we might see her more often then the rest of the family.”  
  
“Somehow, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Andrew chuckled. She sent him a smile, before pulling away to check out what was at the st. “Are you ready for Boston?” he asked after she finished her purchase and they had found a spot for it in the bags on the stroller.  
  
“Of course I am,” she gave him a long look, “I’ve been ready for us to be back together since three days after you left,” she continued with a small shrug. “Are you ready to give up your second spree of bachelorhood?”  
  
“Are you kidding?” Andrew chuckled, “I was ready for you and Rosalie to be with me three hours after I got off the plane.”  
  
“Good,” she smirked, letting her head rest on his shoulder once more. They walked in comfortable silence for several minutes, watching as Arianna switched Rosalie to her other hip, but made no effort to return to them as she’d been told to do when she got tired of carrying the munchkin, then continued on with her ‘window shopping’, hints of her running conversation with Rosalie echoing back to them. “I’ve been thinking about Boston…”  
  
“What about Boston…” he prompted when she fell quiet.  
  
“I think I don’t want to go back to work, would that be feasible?” Rosemary asked finally.  
  
Andrew brought them to a halt, turning to look at her fully as his head tilted to the side while he regarded her. “Are you sure? You spent years working on your degree…”  
  
She shrugged slightly, looking back towards his sister and their daughter, “I didn’t realize how much I was missing out while I was at work all day until I didn’t have to be at work. I think I want to just be at home for now, maybe go back to work when she’s older.”  
  
Andrew took a long moment to watch her, before reaching out to brush the hair that had fallen down from her braid back behind her ear, “I think that if that’s something you want to do, then we can do that,” he agreed with a soft smile.  
  
“Good,” she nodded, smiling brightly as she tugged him back to facing the stroller so they could start walking again.


	10. July 7th, 2020

**:-:-:-:-:-:**  
  
**Tuesday, July 7th, 2020**  
**Orlando, Florida**  
**Epcot**  
**8:24 p.m.**  
****  
:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
They were twelve days into the family trip, with only two days left until they would be traveling back to California. Twelve days of endless fun as they traveled first through the Caribbean, spending a second day at Castaway Cay after they left the Bahamas, then a day at sea before returning to Florida.  
  
They’d traveled from the cruise ship to Disney World, having a VIP tour of Hollywood Studios that allowed them to see the newer sections of the park in a unique way, and splitting up in two different bungalows at the Polynesian Resort with the same rooming arrangements as they had on the cruise ship.  
  
They had been spent their second day ashore at the Magic Kingdom, followed by a day at Animal Kingdom, everyone letting the two who had experience at the parks take the lead. Saturday had been divided between Epcot in the morning, and back at the Magic Kingdom that night enjoying the Fourth of July festivities at both parks for a new experience that they’d probably not get again.  
  
Sunday they’d left Disney World, traveling across Orlando to visit Universal Studios. The big draw had been the Wizarding World area, and in all honesty, Rosemary and Rosalie had just enjoyed that area before heading back to the hotel to enjoy some quiet time while everyone else went full course on every other section of the park. While Monday had been divided between Hollywood Studios in the morning and Animal Kingdom so they could see the nighttime shows.  
  
Today they had planned to divide and conquer for the most part. That morning had seen Rosemary and Arianna enjoying the experience of learning how to make the decorative parts of the dome cakes famous at Amorette’s Patisserie in Disney Springs while Andrew had quiet time with Rosalie. Andrew had joined the two of them for lunch, leaving Rosalie with Grand-mama and Grandpa for the day.  
  
Arianna had headed back to the bungalow after lunch, taking the Mickey Dome Cake they had decorated together, along with the small collection of treats Andrew had picked up before meeting them, allowing the two of them their day alone to celebrate their second wedding anniversary.  
  
They had opted to just go wander Epcot for the day, wandering the park under the cover of her parasol from their engagement photos to protect them from the sun’s heat while they mostly shopped. They’d grabbed a light snack at Joy of Tea in China, sharing a Lucky Combo and Chicken Curry Pocket, while she had a bubble milk tea and he had an iced tea.  
  
Andrew couldn’t stand tapioca pearls and she adored them, so it worked for them.  
  
They’d even grabbed mochi at Japan, before going to Monsieur Paul for dinner, snagging a table at the window to watch the fireworks after they worked their way through the tastings option, getting to try a little of everything.  
  
It was at the restaurant in the French Pavilion that Andrew had surprised her with a small decorative pillow, atop of which sat a simple tiara, inexpensive but then she was pretty sure he knew by now she’d kill him if he ever bought her a real one, and a wrist corsage made of pink rosebuds.  
  
Rosemary had simply sighed, rolled her eyes, and smiled for the picture he insisted on taking.  
  
Or, apparently, Claudia and Rachel had insisted on per the reply texts thanking him for the picture.  
  
It was over dessert, as they were waiting for the fireworks, that she bit the bullet to ask the other question that had been floating around her head for weeks, aside from her want to just stay at home with Rosalie.  
  
“Andrew,” she began, idly playing with her teacup.  
  
“What?” his eyebrow rose as he watched her.  
  
“I was thinking…” she began, then paused. When his hand found hers, catching her fingers gently with his own, she looked up to find him smiling encouragingly. “I was thinking about the idea of going off the birth control,” she spoke quickly, watching as he simply blinked once, then twice.  
  
“You’re panicking over talking about going off birth control?” Andrew asked with a small frown. “Why are you worried about talking about going off your birth control?”  
  
She shrugged, not able to think of a better reaction, “I don’t know… we hadn’t exactly talked time frames, and while we both adore Rosalie, she wasn’t planned so… I wasn’t sure what you thought about us trying for another baby.”  
  
Andrew just blinked again, before slowly shaking his head, “You’re over thinking things again, Mary,” he began quietly. “I thank God every day that I have you and Rosalie. I will be grateful for any other children we might have. If you want to go off the birth control, then that’s perfectly alright with me. I understood the want to wait at least a year between Rosalie and any other children, but ultimately, in my opinion, it’s your decision when to come off the medication.”  
  
Rosemary tilted her head to the side, watching him for a long moment, finding nothing but honesty in his eyes. “Alright,” she nodded slowly. “Then, I’ll talk to my new OB in Boston about coming off and any side effects or potential need to wait for all the hormones to be out of my system.”  
  
“Okay,” he nodded, smile growing after a moment. “So, we’re going to try for another baby?”  
  
“Yeah,” she agreed with a small smile. “Maybe this time we’ll get a boy.”  
  
“I didn’t care what Rosalie was, I don’t care what our second child will be if we get one.”  
  
Rosemary chuckled as she leaned back in her chair, “You’re always so easy going… always have been… Thank God, because one of us needs to not be neurotic.”  
  
Andrew shook his head, a smile playing around his lips, “You’re not neurotic… you’re… unique.”  
  
Rosemary slowly raised her left eyebrow as she stared back at him, “I’m _unique_? That’s your comeback?”  
  
“I love unique,” he countered with a grin.  
  
She just shook her head, “I love you, too… Even if you are a ridiculous some days.”  
  
“Hey, I may be ridiculous, but you wouldn’t know what to do without me,” he grinned back.  
  
“Very true,” she agreed with a smile, the sound of the firework show outside drawing their attention.


	11. August 28th, 2020

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my darlings! Hope everyone has had a good week. We're off to life in Boston this week!

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
**   
**Friday, August 28th, 2020  
** **Boston, Massachusetts  
** **Quincy Market  
** **2:27 p.m.  
**   
**:-:-:-:-:-:  
**   
"We should bring Yasu next time," Rosemary mused as they exited Faneuil Hall, their late lunches carefully balanced in the empty seat of the stroller Andrew was pushing, while Rosalie sat up in the sling she wore as she pushed the rolling cart they had picked up for ease in shopping trips without the car. **  
**  
"Sounds like a plan," he nodded, though she wasn't surprised to see he was mostly scanning the area for a place to sit and eat. "I think you're right about it being too crowded over here," he pointed out after a moment. **  
**  
"Shall we wander?" she raised an eyebrow as she looked back at him, "There's that park area we spotted earlier at the farmer's market." **  
**  
"Sounds like a plan," he fully looked at her as he spoke, sending her a grin. "This is going to become a regular habit, isn't it?" **  
**  
"Farmer's Market, of course," she grinned back. "Though the wraps over there are going to be the biggest weakness," she nodded towards the kiosk selling wrap skirts for all ages practically. **  
**  
"That does not surprise me," he chuckled, turning to maneuver through a break in the crowds so they could escape to a slightly quieter area. **  
**  
It was the first Friday he'd been able to get off since they got back to town after their vacation and move, Andrew driving them cross-country in the car instead of attempting to fly with Yasu. **  
**  
She was forever grateful that his boss had been so understanding and allowed him such a long vacation to accommodate the two week trip to Orlando, then the two weeks to celebrate Rosalie's birthday with their family, and Donovan’s birthday the morning after Rosalie’s birthday party before they had started driving back east for several days across the country. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived in Boston, they'd only had the weekend together before Andrew had to immediately return to work full time. While they'd been able to explore areas of Boston together on the weekends, they had mostly stuck to their local area. **  
**  
Not that their local area wasn't actually pretty amazing, the number of stores in walking distance was simply mind boggling considering she hadn't had anywhere near the variety of options when she lived in Vallejo, and while they hadn't had to go far to get to things in Irvine, they hadn't had something like a bakery for dogs nearby. **  
**  
She'd been eying the farmer's market that was held near Quincy Market for months though, so when he unexpectedly got a day off on a Friday no less, Rosemary had leapt at the chance and by the time Andrew was fully awake for the day, everything was packed and ready to go. Her sweet husband had simply shook his head and asked if they were driving for taking local transit. **  
**  
Charley cards in hand, they'd made their way towards the waterfront and explored the Farmer's market, grabbing a snack there closer to noon, then headed towards Faneuil Hall to explore everything there, deciding on Greek for lunch, enjoying the quiet time together and the amusement of watching Rosalie react to any and everything that caught her attention. **  
**  
Before long, they had escaped the craziness of the crowds near the Market and found a mostly quiet spot in the nearby park, where she unpacked the blanket kept in the stroller while Rosalie was released to explore their immediate surroundings before she was distracted by the sight of her lunch box filled with toys, and Andrew worked on hooking the umbrella kept with the rolling cart to the handle of the rolling car to provide them shade over their impromptu picnic. **  
**  
"Did you know your sister is contemplating bribing the parents to come visit for Christmas?" she asked as she stole one of his dolmas while he was distracted with Rosalie. **  
**  
"Somehow, I'm not surprised," Andrew chuckled, "I think if she thought the parents would agree, and that we had the room, she might try and convince everyone to let her move in with us. I'm still not entirely sure how we became Ari's absolute favorite people in the world." **  
**  
"Really?" Rosemary stared at him skeptically. "You haven't noticed Ari is more open with us? I know Rach and the parents have, we talk about it all the time in our group text. Your mom comes to me all the time to check if Ari is doing okay at this point." **  
**  
"Huh," he frowned slightly before it faded away as he shrugged, "Guess I hadn't noticed, maybe she just likes coming to you more, as I don't think it's me." **  
**  
"Maybe it's the outside factor, I don't have the history of being responsible older sibling required to report to the parents," she shrugged as well. "Maybe she'll be Lee's confidant someday." **  
**  
"What do you think Lee, you gonna turn to your Aunt Ari instead of us when you're a teenager?" Andrew asked Rosalie with a smile, who clapped her hands together then handed him her tube filled with pasta to shake. **  
**  
Rosemary just grinned as she pulled out her phone to document the impromptu jam session as Andrew played the pasta noisemakers and Rosalie beat sporadically against her metal lunch box. **  
**  
She figured pointing out that the bar owned by the great-uncle of the girl Arianna loved was located in their new town could wait. 


	12. November 7th, 2020

 

 **:-:-:-:-:-:**  
  
**Saturday, November 7th, 2020**  
**Santa Barbara, California**  
**The Four Seasons Resort**  
**9:41 p.m.**  
  
**:-:-:-:-:-:**  
  
“Remind me to try to replicate this cake,” Rosemary pointed at the piece of cake they were sharing with the fork tines.  
  
“Try to replicate the cake,” Andrew chuckled.  
  
“I’ll help,” Arianna grinned as before taking a bite of her own slice of cake.  
  
“Rachel and Max had excellent choice in cake,” she looked across the room to find the couple in question dancing on the dance floor, completely lost in each other.  
  
“So true,” Arianna agreed. “Then again, everything today has been wonderful.”  
  
"Very true," Andrew was grinning as she turned her head back towards the table, holding out a bite of cake with eyebrow quirked.  
  
"You two are so sickeningly sweet some days," Arianna rolled her eyes, but the smile tugging at her lips took any malice out of the words.  
  
"Like those two are any better," Andrew hooked his thumb over his shoulder towards their sister."  
  
"I know, Donnie has been complaining since the day Rach announced they were doing a fifties wedding," Arianna voiced, but the smile definitely went against the complete picture of annoyance she was giving off.  
  
"I happen to like the fifties theme," she countered, reaching down to lightly fluff her powder blue skirt and it's layers of crinoline. "And I adore your red and black number, it reminds me of Rizzo…"  
  
"There are worse things I could do…" Arianna sang quietly, before fluttering her eyelashes dramatically.  
  
"No, bad image, bad," Andrew pointed at her with his fork.  
  
Arianna just smirked, before taking a bite of her cake.  
  
"Besides, I highly doubt you'd follow Rizzo's example with your heart already given to someone in Ireland," Rosemary pointed out with a smirk as Arianna's jaw dropped and Andrew started to snicker.  
  
"Shh," she looked around furtively, "Do you realize how many members of our family are here?"  
  
"Do you realize how much of the family has keyed into your preference thanks to Facebook?" Andrew countered with a shrug. "Sister mine, no one in this building cares…" he twirled his empty fork to encompass the room.  
  
"Well, truthfully we can't speak for Max's family, or Rachel and Max's friends, but everyone here that's family on your side of things is pretty open to the idea of non-traditional relationships,” Rosemary hurried to add on. “Have you actually bothered to add any of the extended family to your Facebook? There’s a lot of open-minded individuals in the family, based off of their posts…”  
  
“Great-Aunt Juniper is trying to convince people of the wonders of polyamory, just so you know… and I think Great-Aunt Bea had a twenty-year affair with mom’s Godmother…” Andrew frowned, before shaking his head. “On the other hand, imagining Great-Aunt Bea with anyone is creepy in and of itself…”  
  
Arianna blinked several times as she just stared at her brother, before turning her full focus to her, “Did my brother just suggest our ninety-seven-year-old great-aunt, the one over there critiquing how everyone got their vintage clothes wrong,” she pointed towards the table that housed all of Claudia’s mother’s sisters, of which there were five ranging from their mid-seventies to late nineties; “had a mad lesbian love affair with the woman who gave all four of us handmade quilts at birth and once sent Andrew a native tribal fertility god from New Zealand?”  
  
Rosemary was about to automatically agree, before she paused and turned to stare at her husband as his sister’s question really processed, “You have a native tribal fertility god from New Zealand?”  
  
“I did…” he admitted with a slight shrug, “I was thirteen, it was weird, I mean _really_ weird… I gave it to a history teacher in high school who was obsessed with alternative religions.”  
  
“Right,” she nodded slowly before looking back at Arianna, “Then yes, your aunt who is pretending to be Joan Collins at the red carpet had a mad love affair with your mother’s quilt making, fertility god gifting godmother. At least that’s the story going around the family. You’d have to either confront your Great-Aunt Bea, or try to get Great-Aunt Juniper to give up the details… Whichever you feel braver to try…”  
  
Arianna’s eyes were as wide as saucers as she looked between them and the great-aunts’ table, “You’re crazy… I’m happy in my ignorance, I was happy ten minutes ago…” she added mostly under her breath.  
  
“Uh huh,” Rosemary nodded, “Point is, stop fretting, and send your girl the pic I’m sending you,” she instructed as she hit send on the text with the picture she had taken of Arianna dancing earlier with Rachel and Rosalie, before they sent Rosalie to be watched over by the staff so she could get some sleep while they got to enjoy more of the party.  
  
Definite perk to staying at the hotel where Rachel and Max were getting married, hotel provided babysitting.  
  
“Um… okay,” Arianna answered slowly, looking still mostly worse for wear in the mental shock department.  
  
“Come, my love, now that we have traumatized my youngest of my sisters, let’s go dance with the eldest one,” Andrew offered his hand as he rose.  
  
“That was a cruel way to drop the family secrets on her,” Rosemary pointed out after they were on the dance floor, dancing to another of the endless array of songs from the time period the wedding was inspired by.  
  
“I love her dearly, and I’ll know she’ll survive… Heck, she’s already lost in her phone,” he nodded towards the table. As they turned, she got a glance and saw that Arianna was indeed completely entranced in her phone. “So, relax and let’s enjoy the last night we have with the family before we have to return to Boston and the tedious nature of life…”  
  
“Plus the dog who will be very annoyed we left him,” she countered with a smirk.  
  
“My dog has nothing on _your_ cat,” Andrew argued, “Smokey will be giving us the evil eye for _days_ over being boarded so we could fly out here.”  
  
“True,” she nodded slowly, “And it’s only a few weeks until mom comes out for Thanksgiving…”  
  
“Don’t remind me,” Andrew groaned, “Thank God for mom and Dad’s Wyndham…”  
  
“Yes, so mom will have a place to go every night letting us recover from her invasion of the house…” she agreed with a laugh.  
  
“And then we have three weeks of quiet just the three of us, and the pets until the family arrives for the holidays,” he voiced wistfully.  
  
“Yes, three weeks of quiet before the family arrives. Of course, that’s three weeks to completely decorate the house,” she pointed out.  
  
“Yes, that’s three weeks to completely decorate the house,” Andrew agreed with a laugh.  
  
“So… let’s enjoy the party while we can?” she asked with a cheeky smile.  
  
Andrew shook his head, pursing his lips together to hide his smile before he spun her away and brought her back into his arms, “Let’s enjoy the party while we can,” he agreed before pressing his lips to hers.


	13. December 2nd, 2020

**:-:-:-:-:-:**  
  
**Wednesday, December 2nd, 2020**  
**London, England**  
**6:42 p.m.**  
  
**:-:-:-:-:-:**  
  
“Tea,” Richard smiled as he held out the cup and saucer to each of them.  
  
“Thank you,” Rosemary smiled up at her cousin’s husband as she took her cup, while Rose Lynn took the second cup next to her.  
  
“You’re welcome,” Richard responded before slipping away, leaving the two of them alone once more to watch over their daughters.  
  
“We should try to get together again, not wait more than a year this time,” Rose Lynn mused before taking a sip of her tea. “I think they should have infinitely more time together than we got,” she nodded towards their daughters who were playing with noisemakers with glee. Lilianna was the spitting image of her mother, though she had Richard’s eyes.  
  
“Disney trips when they’re older?” Rosemary suggested with a chuckle.  
  
“Of course,” Rose Lynn grinned. “We’ll start with the original.”  
  
“Sounds like a plan,” Rosemary agreed easily, relaxing into the love seat they shared.  
  
Their Great-Grandmother had attained the title of centenarian the day before, so after spending Thanksgiving together in Boston, she had flown to London with her mother and daughter late Sunday night, arriving early Monday morning where they’d been met at the airport by Colin.  
  
For the last four days, they’d had unless hours of enjoyment with the family that lived in England, all gathered to celebrate Rose Douglas’ long life.  
  
Rosemary only hoped that she could be half as spry as her Great-Grandmother was if she made it to her age. They had spent over half the day before her birthday wandering around Rose’s favorite Christmas Market in Southbank Centre, followed by a day spent celebrating her birthday, then today they’d gone to the Winter Festival in Leicester Square.  
  
It had been wonderful to share the same Festivals they’d gone to when they had come out for Rose Lynn and Richard’s wedding with Rosalie, even though her daughter would never remember. Pictures would be evidence though, pictures that already existed from when she and Andrew had gone, and now her and Rosalie, and perhaps they’d get a chance to go again all three of them one day.  
  
“What do you think, start when they’re five and old enough to really enjoy the parks?” Rose Lynn pulled her attention away from her wandering thoughts.  
  
“Yearly trips to Disney parks?” she looked over at her cousin with a single eyebrow raised. “I’ll have to warn Andrew, we should invest in a Disney Vacation membership if we’re going to do that.”  
  
“Rich is already aware I’m expecting one for our fifth anniversary,” she laughed.  
  
“You’re getting one for Christmas,” Richard called from where he was playing chess with Arthur.  
  
“Perfect,” Rose Lynn clapped her hands together. “So, Disneyland, sometime in twenty-four or twenty-five. We’ve got plenty of time to work out the details.”  
  
Rosemary just smiled, “Plenty of time to work out the details,” she agreed. “You get to explain it all to my husband though.”  
  
“Done,” Rose Lynn grinned. “I’ll message him later.”  
  
Rosemary just shook her head and went back to her tea, grateful that her husband wouldn’t object with how much his sister and she were both huge Disney fans.  
****


	14. December 19th, 2020

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello loves,  
> Sorry, the last few weeks have been rather insane between my niece's cousin moving out unexpectedly one morning, my niece finishing off her summer with her mom and me, and then jury duty! All this while I've been down with migraines. Many apologies for not getting chapters up the last couple of weeks, if all goes well I should be back on schedule!

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
****Saturday, December 19th, 2020  
****Boston, Massachusetts  
****Logan Airport  
****4:16 p.m.  
  
****:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
**“There they are!”  
  
They both looked up at the same time when they heard Donovan’s familiar voice, Andrew up and out of his seat first to greet his family and rescue Claudia from her carry-on bag while Rosemary rose a little slower with Rosalie having been contently sitting in her lap.  
  
“Oh, let me have her,” Claudia grinned as she reached out for her granddaughter. “I’ve missed you ma petit ange,” she cooed as she held Rosalie close.  
  
“You don’t get to hog Lee, Mom,” Arianna spoke as she stepped over to give her a hug while Claudia was busy with Rosalie.  
  
“I won’t hog her, much,” Claudia countered as he shared a look with his love over his mother’s shoulder.  
  
“Right, so when are we getting food?” Donovan interjected, “I’m starving.”  
  
“You’re thirteen, I’m not surprised you’re starving,” Andrew chuckled as he gave his brother a hug. “Especially with you shooting up the way you have, what are you feeding him, Mom?” he looked back towards her, eyebrow quirked.  
  
“No clue, I wish he’d stop, he’s not supposed to be my height before the age of sixteen,” Claudia grumbled.  
  
“My thirteen-year-old brother-in-law shouldn’t be taller than me,” Rosemary pointed out with a shrug, though she was smiling, “I think we all need to embrace it,” Andrew smirked as his wife just summed up how unimpressed she was with people spacing over Donovan’s height. Then again, his vertically challenged wife was long used to everyone being taller than her, and had no qualms using their height against them. “Seriously though, what did you do, grow six inches in a month?” she continued with a smile.  
  
“Yup,” Donovan grinned. “Thank God I stopped though, it hurt like hell,” he added with a grimace.  
  
“Going to get things,” Andrew called over his shoulder as he guided his brother away from the women, leaving them to coo over his daughter even as he could hear his mother starting to fill Rosemary in on the hell it was exactly. Meanwhile, they headed towards the luggage carousel. “First, I’m sorry to hear the height was such a pain the ass to get. Second, head’s up, you’ve become part of the slave labor for Mary. Don’t be surprised if you are asked to get anything and everything because you’re tall now,” he warned with a smirk.  
  
“Ehh,” Donovan shrugged, “No big deal. And as to the growth spurts from Satan, I survived. As long as they don’t do it again, I’ll be okay.”  
  
“So, how much longer you think the parents are going to let you get away with not cutting your hair for school this year?” he quizzed as he flicked the black hair that was just below his brother’s collar while also watching for the familiar sight of rainbow ribbons on the collection of luggage that belonged to the family.  
  
“I’m hoping to keep them at bay indefinitely, I’m aiming for having it more like River’s Edge Keanu Reeves at some point in high school, even if I look more like his Jack Nimble right now.”  
  
Andrew just blinked at his brother, before shrugging, “Whatever you want Donnie, have you told Dad your plan?”  
  
“He loves my references,” Donovan smirked before foraging into the fray to grab their mother’s bag. “So, what’s the plan for food anyway?” he quizzed as he returned, one more bag in hand.  
  
“You, me, and Mom are taking the car back to the hotel while Mary takes Ari and Lee on the local transit, we’ll arrive with time to check-in and get the bags upstairs and the three of them will meet us at the restaurant in the Wyndham for dinner.”  
  
“So, food in the next hour right?” Donovan looked up at him hopefully.  
  
“Food in the next hour,” he laughed before making his way into the crowd to grab another familiar bag, Donovan’s ‘cool’ echoing after him.   
****


	15. December 25th, 2020

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies my love for the delay this week; it was supposed to be my niece's weekend and her dad argued and kept her with him which just threw everything out of whack... So instead we got to entertain her best friend and dye her hair all weekend.
> 
> Hopefully, next week will be back on schedule!

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
**   
**Friday, December 25th, 2020  
** **Boston, Massachusetts  
** **Wyndham Beacon Hill  
** **12:18 p.m.  
**   
**:-:-:-:-:-:  
**   
“Where did you get these?” Claudia asked as she looked at the pair of earrings she’d just unwrapped.  
  
“Remember the Christmas Stroll Andrew was telling you about?” Rosemary asked as she took a picture of Rosalie playing with her Christmas wrapping more than the gift she’d just received from her Aunt Ari.  
  
The one where you guys made the wreath on your front door?” her mother-in-law clarified.  
  
“Yeah, I’m still not sure how he pulled it off, but it was an amazing relaxing weekend after the whirlwind in London and having to get mom out that morning,” Rosemary shared a knowing look with the other woman. “Among the many things they had going during the weekend in Nantucket was a craft show, I saw those and just knew you’d like them.”  
  
“Good call, as I love them,” Claudia chuckled. “James, I want to go to this Nantucket Christmas Stroll next year,” she called across the room to where James was sharing the couch with Andrew, midway through opening a present from the son sitting next to him.  
  
“Alright, I’ll look into it later, though I do believe your son has already requested going to the Wizarding World for the holidays next year,” James answered, not even looking up from carefully removing the tape piece by piece, much to Andrew and Donovan’s frustration.  
  
“Well, we can do Hogwarts during Winter Break, and you and I can take a weekend away from the kids who should be able to survive on their own for a few days and just come out on our own.”  
  
“Let us know if you actually make plans, I’d suggest getting the hotel as soon as possible, I actually heard about it from a co-worker and had our rental house booked about two weeks after moving out here,” Andrew spoke up, “Come on Dad, rip the paper already!” he added, gesturing towards the box.  
  
“Seriously!” Donovan echoed.  
  
“You’d think they’d be used to their father,” Claudia chuckled.  
  
“The Ghost Tour was wicked fun, though thank God it worked out with mom’s trip since he didn’t tell me until Mom had already bought the tickets having been in talks with Uncle Colin about Granny Rose’s birthday long before I heard a word about the Uncle Arthur buying tickets to fly everyone out,” Rosemary shook her head.  
  
“Can we do London for Spring Break?” Donovan asked suddenly.  
  
“Rather go to Ireland,” Arianna murmured as she texted on her phone, waiting more patiently for her father to open his gift as they were passing out a round of gifts and everyone had to open one before the next round was passed out; as usual Claudia and James waited for everyone else to finish.  
  
“We know,” Claudia chuckled, “We’ll talk,” she added towards both her youngest children before looking back at her, “I’m taking you with me if my children drag me to London.”  
  
She looked across the room to Andrew, blinking once, before returning her gaze to her mother-in-law after catching her husband’s shrug. “I suppose we’ll have to see how things are once you guys actually decide if you’re going.”  
  
“Perfect, we’ll plan away after I get a straight answer out of James regarding his schedule,” Claudia laughed, “James, darling, I think if you don’t stop being anal about the paper, your sons will open your gift for you in a moment. Chanel your granddaughter.”  
  
James froze and stared at them with a look that could only be described as scandalized on his face, “You want me to tear wrapping paper?” he whispered, as if she’d just suggested he kill the dog snoring across his and Andrew’s feet.  
  
“Well, I think it’s either you or them,” Rosemary shrugged, even as Donovan was inching his fingers towards the paper.  
  
“Touch it and die, son of mine,” James spoke without even looking away from his wife.  
  
“For fuck’s sake,” Donovan muttered, only to have three balls of wrapping paper fly at him while James reached out to smack the back of his head and Andrew flick ribbons at him.  
  
“If my daughter starts saying swear words, you get to deal with her mother,” Andrew warned.  
  
“Sorry,” Donovan ducked his head quickly.  
  
Rosemary glanced at Rosalie, who was still busy throwing wrapping and ribbons up in the air over her head, thankful for the ignorance that was her seventeen-month-old, and just shook her head as the boys started arguing again over unwrapping the gift quicker. “So,  what time are we going to dinner again?” she asked Claudia with a smile.  
  
“We’ve got plenty of time,” Claudia laughed as she picked up her glass of egg nog. “So, you were telling me of what lovelies Lee got this morning at your house last time we waited for my husband to stop dilly-dallying with his presents. What did your mom get her?”  
  
“Aside from enough clothes to kill a horse,” Rosemary chuckled, “She’s signed us up for this box that sends age-appropriate activities that will arrive every couple of months between now and age two.”  
  
“Well, that will be fun,” Claudia nodded. “She is aware you’ve been making age-appropriate toys for Lee all along, right?”  
  
“Well,” Rosemary shrugged, “One would have thought when Lee was playing with them in London with Lilli, though I think she was more distracted with talking with Uncle Colin’s new significant other, so…” she shrugged once more. “It’s mom, and I’ll gladly take whatever she’s willing to get Lee at this point. If we have issues when Lee develops a much more defined sense of style or likes and dislikes, I’ll cross that bridge when I have to.”  
  
“Well all do,” Claudia nodded, understanding written all over her face, “My mother-in-law cried the day I told her Andrew had refused to wear the sailor suit she thought was adorable.”  
  
“Before anyone suggests it, I will never put my son in one,” Andrew spoke, obviously still paying attention to the other conversations in the room.  
  
“Noted, though you have to have a son first,” Claudia countered, raising her glass to him in a toast.  
  
“Just covering my bases ahead of time mom,” he sent them a grin, before looking back at James when Donovan let out a cheer. “Dear sweet Santa’s helper, it’s time for another round.”  
  
“Alright,” Arianna spoke as she set her phone down and picked up one of the presents  next to her, “Pass around, this one’s Donnie’s.”  
  
Rosemary just shook her head, taking the gift passed over so she could toss it to Andrew, the noted fragile gifts having been dealt with first and foremost so their resident sixteen-year-old could sit for the most part. When she spotted what gift Arianna had pulled out of the tree for herself this time, she opted to sit back and wait on opening her own gift, watching while Rosalie distracted her with ribbons before Arianna finally got her own box open.  
  
Arianna’s eyes lit up as she pulled out the rectangular music box she and Andrew had found, “Oh, it’s beautiful,” she breathed as she took all the details in, the pictures from The Nutcracker. “Does it play music?” she looked up at her, then Andrew, before returning her gaze to the box.  
  
“Have a look,” Andrew chuckled.  
  
Truthfully, the squeal that followed was no surprise to any of the humans, except Rosalie and Donovan, neither of who had been expecting it, while the adults in the room had all been fully aware of what lay inside the music box. Yasu was perhaps the most startled, as he shot to his feet and immediately went on guard.  
  
Donovan just sighed and went back to his new video game while the others explained the plans for the following evening to have dinner near the Opera House before they went to see The Nutcracker performed by the Boston Ballet, leaving Rosemary to entertain Rosalie who was still processing the unexpected noise while Yasu settled back down to sleep now that he was sure things were safe.


	16. December 28th, 2020

**:-:-:-:-:-:**  
  
**Monday, December 28th, 2020**  
**Boston, Massachusetts**  
**The Langham Hotel**  
**2:18 p.m.**  
  
**:-:-:-:-:-:**  
  
“So,” Claudia began as soon as Arianna was out of earshot. “You’ve been particularly cagey about the idea of going to London for Spring Break. Spill,” she leveled a pointed look over the top of her teacup.  
  
Rosemary blinked at the other woman, rather surprised by the subject jump while they were enjoying the afternoon tea. James and Donovan had passed, making it a girl's day, the two having plans to join Andrew for a quick lunch before he had to get back to work, and catch up on work and homework at the hotel for the two of them.  
  
"I'm just not sure what Spring Break is going to look like schedule wise," she offered, but even she could hear the hesitancy she hadn't intended to be in her words.  
  
"Uh huh," Claudia responded as she picked up a scone half and carefully began spreading clotted cream, lemon curd, and strawberry preserves on it. "Shall we try that again, dear girl?" she asked with a smile.  
  
She sighed, glancing towards where Rosalie sat playing with her favorite pom poms and cup toy, before looking back at the other woman. "I've been off my birth control since August, and I guess part of me is sort of in a holding pattern on the idea of making major plans while we're semi-actively trying for another baby," she explained carefully as she picked her way through the issues in her own head. "Odds are high I'm totally for the idea, just at the moment in a lot of ways it's probably best if we finish out this trip, give my brain a chance to recalibrate to status quo, before starting plans for a new trip, especially since it's been such a busy holiday season."  
  
Claudia nodded slowly as she chewed her bite, "You have been incredibly non-stop since the wedding, I’m not surprised that you’re feeling overwhelmed, especially if you and Andrew had been trying for another baby. I remember how your period can bring stress and frustration and sometimes even a bit of guilt that it didn’t happen this month.”  
  
“Yeah,” she agreed after a moment, “We weren’t telling anyone…”  
  
“Relax sweetheart, your secret is safe with me,” Claudia promised with a smile. “I’m the sole of discretion. If I wasn’t, James would realize I’ve met Siobhán’s grandparents without him,” she winked.  
  
Rosemary blinked twice, “When did you manage to get over to the Gallagher Pub this trip?”  
  
“Ari and I went over the night before James arrived while Donovan was dead to the world after the Monopoly marathon we all had together that day and you three had gone home to get Rosalie into bed,” Claudia smirked. “They’re lovely, and it gave Arianna a chance to drop off the present she had for Siobhán. They plan to get send it back to Ardmore the next time they ship a package there.”  
  
“That’s sweet,” Rosemary murmured, picking up her tea once more. “You realize if you take a trip to London for Spring Break, Ari is going to want to take a side trip to Ireland, right?”  
  
“I know,” Claudia chuckled, “Why do you think I keep trying to convince you to come. You can take Donovan all around London and give me a chance to get Ari to Ireland and I won’t have two cranky teenagers on my hands because they aren’t getting to do what they’d rather be doing while their sibling gets to do what they want to do.”  
  
She couldn’t help but laugh, “So that’s why you’re bugging me, you need a babysitter for Donnie.”  
  
“Hey, as long as he’s getting to do what he wants, he won’t consider it a babysitter, so I’m good,” Claudia shrugged.  
  
Rosemary just shook her head, letting the conversation drop as they both turned their attention back to food and Rosalie, waiting for Arianna to return from the restroom so they could continue their girls day.


	17. January 21st, 2021

**:-:-:-:-:-:  
  
****Friday, January 21st, 2021  
****Boston, Massachusetts  
****11:32 a.m.  
  
****:-:-:-:-:-:**  
  
Andrew had been surprised to get the text asking if he was free for lunch, but had happily agreed to meet Rosemary and Rosalie for lunch at the cafe not far from his building.  
  
Their ever active and busy eighteen-month-old was happily entranced with the contents of her ‘busy box’, a metal lunch box that had been picked up and filled with a collection of age-appropriate toys that were mostly homemade by Rosemary after she saw something on the internet.  
  
Rosalie adored the simple activities, and it made things like restaurants and shopping a thousand times easier.  
  
“Hello, my loves,” he greeted as he joined them, bending down to press his lips against Rosemary’s, before repeating the process with Rosalie who was half distracted by pushing small pom poms into a hole in a Tupperware lid, but still eagerly looked up at him with a big grin for her own kiss.  
  
“I wasn’t sure if you would want your favorite here, but Lee and I have lunch on the way,” Rosemary explained as he sat down. “How has your day been?”  
  
“Long, productive,” he shrugged. “No worries about food,” he added with a smile, catching the attention of the Amber, who often was on shift when he’d sneak over for a cup of coffee or a quick snack on break, before turning his full attention back to them. “So, what brings you two to my side of town today?”  
  
“Well, we had news, and I couldn’t wait to share it…” Rosemary shrugged.  
  
Andrew glanced between her and Rosalie, curiosity now peaked, before he paused as Amber walked up to order his sandwich and drink, before returning his attention to his wife. “Okay, shoot…”  
  
Rosemary smiled before looking at Rosalie, “Want to show Daddy our news?” she asked with a smile, Rosalie looking up and grinning at both of them.  
  
“Cat,” she grinned, holding out the half of the mix and match cards made from an old copy of Brown Bear.  
  
Andrew smiled, taking the front half of the cat and finding the back half to match them together, “Cat,” he agreed with a smile before picking up the front half of the bear, “Bear,” he offered it, watching her smile and start hunting for the second half of the bear. “I think Lee’s distracted,” he chuckled as he looked back at Rosemary.  
  
Rosemary pouted for half a second, before shrugging, “Well, then we’ll let her be distracted,” she spoke before turning to look in her purse, handing him a small business card, a follow-up appointment scheduled for April first with her OB.  
  
Andrew blinked once, then twice, before looking up at her, “You aren’t due for your yearly exam until July…”  
  
“Nope,” she agreed with a smile.  
  
“So, this is for…” he trailed off.  
  
“Sist,” Rosalie announced suddenly, smacking the table-top.  
  
“Well, we won’t know that until April, sweetheart,” Rosemary spoke as she focused back on their daughter. “It might be a brother,” she continued, and Rosalie frowned, before going back to her matching cards.  
  
Andrew looked back down at the card in his hands, before looking up at her, “You’re pregnant?”  
  
“I’m pregnant,” she agreed with a smile.  
  
“We’re having a baby,” he looked down at her still flat stomach.  
  
“Wasn’t that the point of going off my birth control?” she teased, pulling his attention back to her face.  
  
“Of course it was,” he agreed quickly, smile growing, “We’re having another baby.”  
  
“Yes,” she laughed, “I’m due in September, so we have plenty of time to get used to the idea…”  
  
“Pfft,” he waved a hand to dismiss it, “I’m already used to the idea,” he reached out to catch her hand, “When are we telling the others?” he asked softly, thinking over the reason they had waited last time. “When will you be out of the first trimester?”  
  
“Mid-March,” she offered with a small shrug. “I’m roughly six weeks, so we have plenty of time to get used to things before we tell anyone else.”  
  
“Two months,” he nodded slowly, “We can do two months.”  
  
“Good,” Rosemary chuckled, “As I’m not inclined to say anything before we’re out of the danger zone any more than I was in the past.”  
  
“Sist!” Rosalie cried again, drawing their attention.  
  
“She might give us away,” he smirked as he looked back at his love.  
  
“Well, we’ll take things as we need to,” Rosemary shrugged. “We’ve got each other after all, we’ll survive.”  
  
“Very true,” he agreed with a smile, pulling back from holding her hand as Amber appeared with their food and Rosemary started cleaning up Rosalie’s toys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well my darlings, we have finished another foray into Andrew and Rosemary's lives. I hope everyone enjoyed the ride.
> 
> While I have plans for them for the future, real life has been so incredibly crazy (thus missed updates over summer), and is looking like it won't slow down any time soon, I just haven't had the time to write like I would love to. So, I can't predict when we'll get the next chapter of their story, but my hope is that someday (hopefully sooner than later) it can be shared.
> 
> Thanks for ready, for the kudos, for the lovely reviews. They mean more than you can ever know.

**Author's Note:**

> So, work towards the intended third entry on Francis and Rosemary's lives has been... delayed slightly. Mostly because my muses are like... yeah look over there, it's a new bunny!
> 
> However, I do have some things done, so instead of trying to force my muses to behave and get us from point A to point C as I want, I'm going to put the time jumps that have been done here for everyone to enjoy, and maybe if I just go ahead and jump on to where the muses want to go, then the original planned third story will finally become a thing!
> 
> In the meantime, I hope everyone enjoys the little snippets of Rosemary and Francis' life.
> 
> Also, I don't know if I might find time to update things sooner than once a week, but I will go no longer than once a week baring some unexpected incidents, so... at the latest, see you guys next weekend!
> 
> P.S., yes we gained a relationship type before anyone potentially goes wait, what, who?!?!?!.... it's referencing another character in the story, not our two main players.


End file.
